That Summer Night
by butterfly collective
Summary: This story takes place a few years before the show when Matt gets into a poker match with some very high stakes. Not my characters just borrowing them for a pretty spicy tale.
1. Chapter 1

C.J. Parsons passed the group of ranch hands playing cards outside by the corral, an ice chest of cold beers alongside them but curiously enough, no piles of money in the ante pot this time.

Oh well, maybe they'd just gotten started, she thought as she passed them with just a glance and headed inside to tend to her mare.

If she had really known what they were wagering over in this particular poker match, she might have headed back to her cabin.

Or ripped them all a new one, Matt Houston thought as he caught her eye as she passed. The men around him reacted to the woman in their midst. They crowed and started eagerly accepting cards from the dealer for the next round of high stakes poker.

The prize had already been selected and the game had started in earnest, as every man in the game wanted to emerge the winner. Matt had discovered what the other men were up to earlier that evening over barbecue and beer, both of which loosened the lips of a pack of rowdy men.

Yesterday on the same day the nation celebrated its birthday with great fanfare, C.J. had turned 21. She'd been working at the ranch since she'd turned 15 and had been a ward of the state living with a foster family. At first, she didn't talk much about where she came from, content to spend her days proving she could work every grown man around her into the dirt. She did it too, out riding, out lassoing and she could split a fence twice as far in half the time. It'd be great to say that all this hard work earned her the respect of the men around her but truth be told, all it did was make them want to get into her worn Levies even more, to be the first man on the ranch to slide between those deliciously long legs of hers and to learn what it felt to ride some prime filly.

Many a man there wanted to break her to saddle thinking she hadn't been around men much because she'd been so buried in her studies at University of Texas and now on a fast forwarded plan to Harvard. But Matt knew more about her than most people because they'd built a friendship that went back further. During the time she'd been underage, his father Bill and foreman Daryl had made damn sure the men left her alone. Bill considered her just like a daughter and had mentored her in her schooling in his spare time. Her foster parents didn't seem to care much what she did or where she spent her time…which was mostly at the Houston ranch.

The men knew that doing more than looking at her would mean that their new foreman Matt would bust their chops before calling the law on them. He'd break them apart with his fists if he didn't lasso them and string him up. But when C.J. got older, not much he could say about it then. She'd been back working the ranch before heading back to her second year at Harvard after finishing first in her class. As she explained to him, law school had three parts. The first year they tried to scare you to death. The second, to work you to death and the final year to bore you to death.

He didn't much worry about her in any year. Little scared her, no one ever worked harder and she was interested in just about everything around her.

She made it clear to him she could handle herself and the men. She didn't need his protection and for the most part, the men didn't hassle her.

Oh but they loved to look and truth be told, so did Matt. So far, no one had lassoed this filly and bedded her, with Matt around no one even tried but he knew they talked about it.

It had something to do with her looks, because the wildness of her curly dark hair, her piercing emerald eyes and her plump lips which hid a saucy mouth drew men to her like tom cats. Most of the men living in the valley were rangy like any tom cat and wanted to corner this young woman somewhere and use her up, almost as much as they wanted to breathe.

Her birthday party had been low key because she hadn't wanted to compete with the nation's own anniversary but then she had broken her rule against dresses and worn a tight flowery piece of fabric that hugged every curve of her body. That had led to a chorus of whistles and offers to dance on the makeshift stage meeting her entrance.

She did dance once or twice until she had left the guys standing there to go cool off with some beer and sit back with Matt listening to him talk about how a bull nearly gored him in the rodeo earlier that day. She smelled of alfalfa and honeysuckle and something else, as she sat there on the steps next to him, her dress riding up her thighs just enough to show off the muscles earned from spending days on horseback. Matt looked at her sometimes like any man. If he slid his callused hand up in between those thighs, what would she do? Push him away probably so he'd behaved himself, reminding him of the unwritten rules of their friendship. But Matt had his own ideas on how to handle women he wanted to know better. Some fillies needed a gentle touch; they needed to be handled in a way so that when they were finally saddled and ridden, they believed it had been their idea.

Sometimes god help him, he entertained those thoughts with her. But he reined them in like a wild stallion. No, he wouldn't treat her like that…he'd never been one to use women like that anyway. Oh he'd had his pleasurable times with them beginning in high school and continuing on to college that had been interrupted by a military stint. One that had promised to relieve his boredom as an athlete scholar at Rice University with a life of adventure and had nearly destroyed his life. Every fiber of him ripped apart by what had happened to him and his now dead cousin Will.

The nightmares had reminded of him what he kept hidden in daylight. He'd gotten his own kin killed after promising his father and Uncle Roy that he'd watch out after the more impulsive Houston. He just hadn't delivered during a routine military offensive where he'd provided intelligence and his cousin had been killed without leaving a body to bury.

He'd survived his own conscience and his father had pushed him out of it to work as foreman on his huge spread of cattle and horses. If it hadn't been for him and C.J…because she'd played her own role too. It'd just taken him a while to stop hating her for it.

Then he'd found out about this damn poker game and wanted in but not for the reason he'd given the other hands. When he found out what constitute the prize for the winner, he'd set his course knowing he had his work cut out for him.

But he had to win. So here he sat outside the barn sitting on some hay bales in a circle playing poker. It'd been going on for about an hour or two.

Having been dealt another hand of cards, he sighed, not believing that he'd agreed to the stakes of this particular poker match.

"You think she just doesn't like guys?"

Slim repeated a question Matt had heard before from the men.

"Nah, maybe she just doesn't like you," Carlton said, eying his hand, "but I'll bet she'll like what I have to give her."

Matt eyed the two of them and decided he couldn't walk away from the game until he won it.

If he won the match, he'd take home the ultimate prize, the one he'd never claim of course. Just to stop any other man here from doing it. He'd be damned if any man who won this game would walk into that barn and claim his best friend as his prize.

That was the stakes of the game, to get her into bed. Whatever man was left standing in the game with the best hand, would be C.J.'s next lover. Of course she didn't know it but she would when the victor went to claim his prize. Of course, Matt guessed that whoever did that would be slapped in the face for his efforts. He didn't share that news with the other players because he had planned to win himself to stop it.

The truth was a girl like that couldn't work alongside a group of men and stay below the radar for long and he knew that the poker game was simply the more civilized version of what had been planned for quite a while. It was also his way to make sure that he'd control the outcome because he'd picked five card stud with no wild cards, his favorite game.

He'd win the match, claim his prize and go into the barn letting her in on the plan. They'd wait a while and he'd come out and tell the others it had been done, and then life would return to normal.

She'd look at him with eyes wide when he told her what he had spared her from and she'd appreciate his help keeping all the other hands away. He had that part of him of course that thought he might then move in for the kill but no, she wasn't like anyone else. He'd have to park his libido at the door before going inside.

* * *

C.J. stroked her mare's neck thoughtfully, thinking about how great it had been to turn a year older yesterday. It hadn't been her fault she had been born on Independence Day but it fit her philosophy on life that she'd adopted.

She'd always been an independent spirit even after her parents died and even when her foster parents disparaged her for it. The first chance she got, she sought and won emancipation in the courts just to get out of the house, away from their fighting and four other children in the wings. She'd switched from working their smaller family ranch for nothing to earning enough money for her to sock it away for college someday. She'd done that and the ranch's owner Bill had wound up mentoring her in her studies.

But when she thought about being her own woman right now, her needs turned more primal. She didn't want to be alone, the sole woman on the ranch anymore. Sometimes she got curious about what it'd be like to do what the men did which was to just have fun. She knew they all wanted her that way and even more so now that Matt had turned her into something akin to forbidden fruit.

Still when she thought about which one she wanted, she knew the answer to that already. She wanted him.

What she wanted from the ruggedly built man with dark hair and a sexy smile, rhymed with his name though she said nothing. When they had sat together on the steps sipping beer watching the partying around them, she had hoped that he'd compliment her on her dress. She had purchased it at the boutique in town just for the party but he had just sat there nursing his bottle talking about nearly getting killed by a pair of horns on an ornery bull.

When all she could think about is if he whispered into her ear about how much he wanted to slip away from the party to do some private celebrating… her birthday just couldn't get any better than that. Instead he hadn't done anything and after the fireworks died down, she had gone to bed alone thinking what it'd be like to be wrapped up in him while the sky sparkled from a whole different kind of pyrotechnics.

It annoyed the more rational side of her to think like that. Damn, half the time he annoyed the hell out of her by his protectiveness which bordered on smothering. It'd almost been better when he'd been so pissed off at her and his own father for forcing him back into living without his dead cousin. He'd been so ripped up by his death, thinking he'd caused it, they'd almost lost him for good.

She sighed as her mare nudged her shoulder. No such luck, that Matt would ever want to put aside his professional detachment and do anything so intimate with her. Not that she'd ask or beg him to do it only to have him push her away, and say no thanks. He'd be so nice about it when he rejected her, that she'd feel even worse.

No, she'd have to find some other guy to hook up with, someone who didn't care about protecting her from what she wanted, well another guy would suffice. She still imagined what it'd be like with him, his mouth marking her skin, and branding her in ways that made her shiver. His face etched in concentration as he stroked her in ways that dazzled her all the way to her toes. It didn't have to be about romance and all that fiction, they'd just focus on having a good time.

She cursed the man she wanted right now.

In a few minutes, she'd have to go back inside her cabin and take a cold shower. It had been another hot and humid day that hinted at rain but didn't deliver. The barn offered some relief and her mare, good company but she'd tried to whittle down her restlessness by cleaning tack in the groom's room while sitting on the cot and staring at the rodeo trophies gathering dust on the shelves.

The names etched on them in silver long gone.

All she had done while sitting there was imagine what it'd be like if she had Matt well, Matt naked in front of her and she could touch every inch of him with her hands, over his roughness and the softness she knew she'd find too. Slide her fingers over his muscular chest, over his taut abdomen even lower to his…

She felt the heat rise in her face then as she wondered if he were hung like the bull that nearly gored him, how it would feel in her hands. She ached to wrap her hands around that part of him and explore it but if he knew that, he'd probably avoid her…not to mention if he knew that her mouth itched to taste his mouth, he'd just tell her how much she needed his brand of protection.

When she'd needed protection, it'd been too late after all. What she wanted was to live her life the way she wanted. She knew he sought that too.

What they both needed if he'd only realize it. She was done waiting around for him, the next guy who walked into the barn, would be the one who would be her first. If it happened to be Matt, that would be her choice but she needed someone to scratch her itch.

* * *

The poker playing got fast and furious and in the ante, one of the men had chuckled and threw a condom. Whoever would win the poker match would be covered literally and figuratively when he went inside to tame the filly. Matt looked at his hand and sighed. His luck had to change or Dylan across from him would win the game and he didn't want the cocky upstart anywhere near C.J..

No, he'd have to keep praying for good cards when he hit up the dealer.

"So how would you do it Slim," he said, "Would you take her at a fast gallop, or a leisurely canter?"

Matt just fired a look at them but they ignored him. Slim chuckled.

"I'd take her anyway she liked it," he said, "She'd keep begging me for more."

The men crowed even louder than they had earlier. It all disgusted Matt really but he had to go along with it that was his strategy when he had agreed to the poker match.

"I would hope she'd be willing to prime the pump first," Dylan said, "before we do any riding."

That won him some backslapping. All eyes then turned on Matt.

"So how would you like her," he said, "Fully clothed or trussed up first and just ready to go?"

He hesitated, running his hand through his hair because he had his own fantasies about her that he kept hidden most of the time. But didn't feel like sharing them with a group of horny ranch hands. If they thought he was one of them…

"We'd just do it, end of story."

That earned him some boos.

"Oh come on bro," Dylan said, "Don't you tell me you haven't been wanting a crack at her since she arrived."

Matt sighed.

"She was only 15 Dylan."

The other man shrugged.

"Hey, she was fully developed and I'm sure all her parts worked," he said, "but when I walk into that barn, she'll know she's in for a good time."

Likely Dylan would get his face punched by C.J. before she sent him running out of the barn. He'd stick around in case it got out of hand but he didn't plan on letting Dylan win.

Not at anything and certainly not with her. All he had to do was win this last hand and he'd get the girl. Then he'd figure out what to do with her.

* * *

C.J. sat on the hay bale imagining what it'd be like if Matt walked in right now, and for once looked at her like the woman she had become instead of just her best friend. She knew she had grown attractive, with her thick dark hair and her breasts which had ripened to where they stretched her camisoles. She felt and saw the way men viewed her.

The barn remained empty though occasionally she heard some whoops and hollers outside from the ongoing poker game no doubt. The men sometimes let her play, after teasing her that for each hand lost, she'd have to remove an item of clothing but she stuck to paying for hard cash.

Her body tingled and she knew she had to stop thinking about him and just head inside for the night. She'd take that cold shower and then lie in her bed trying to sleep.

So she kept that secret to herself, because it'd been a long hot summer so far which left her restless and wanting. She needed a man to leave his mark on her, whisker burn on her the scent of his cologne as proof of where he'd been.

She wanted her summer to change.

God, she really had it bad. But what was she going to do about it and was anyone going to walk through that barn door?


	2. Chapter 2

Matt's luck began to improve and he even wound up with a full house which he put on display in front of the astonished ranch hands. With every carefully executed round of poker, he inched closer to victory meaning that he'd grab that condom, walk into the barn and close the door behind them.

Leaving the rest of them to imagine what would be going on inside. Only that's all they'd do because he planned to persuade C.J. to go along with his plan to convince the other hands that he had enjoyed his prize. But as he drew a pair of threes, he wondered how she would handle that. Would she put her hands on those nicely flared hips of hers and lecture him about how she was a fully grown woman not a horse?

Well she could talk all she liked but if she left the barn without going along with it, she'd run into a heap of trouble working on the ranch. After all, having a female working alongside the men riding hard and getting dirty doing ranching work from sunrise to sunset had broken all kinds of rules on the ranch. It just wasn't heard of, because women pitched in but not with the grueling and often dangerous daily grind.

He could protect her from the action of the hands but not their thinking.

"Matt, you're looking like you're going to clean up here," Slim said sighing," Sure picked your game well."

Matt focused on his cards, yeah he sure did because he knew he'd win for sure this way, because the only person who could beat him was inside the barn. Dylan still believed that it would be him going inside the barn to meet up with C.J. and he won just enough hands to keep him hopeful.

"I got plenty of good chances left," Dylan said, "and when I go inside, I'll even let her pick out the spot where I'll nail her."

Slim chuckled.

"Right against that far wall works for me," he said, "Just get naked and then try not to get splinters in her back."

"I'll do it anyway she likes it," Carlton said, "and I'll put a smile on that face of hers."

Matt's hands balled into fists at his side. Their raunchy talk grated on him and made him even more determined to win the next couple of hands and end this so it would be him walking inside. Hauling back and punching them out was another option but not all at once. So he'd decided to play along with them and he planned to win.

And then what?

He would get her to see why his plan to handle this would be the best before she had a chance to tell him off. He would just talk some sense into her and not be thinking about what he'd rather do instead.

How much he'd rather taste those sweet lips, plump and pliant beneath his own mouth, the headiness of her scent reaching him just before he plunged his tongue in between those lips. Would she allow him to do that or turn away, in his fantasies she'd suck on his tongue enough to drive him crazy?

His hands would ride across her shirt, easing their way underneath the fabric to caress her silky skin underneath right up to the lower curve of her breasts. He didn't know if she favored bras over camisoles but he'd love to have that mystery solved with his fingers. When he palmed her breasts with his hands even between the two pieces of clothing, she'd lean against him and sigh, he knew it.

Then he'd whisper something in her ear to make her nipples go hard.

He sighed as he waited to make his decision to draw another card or to keep his hand. No, she probably wouldn't do any of that if he put any moves on her when he went in the barn. He didn't think she'd exactly blush and act all demure but she probably would be as likely to slap him as any of the other guys. Better stick to protecting her from the other men like any best friend would do.

And just as much, from him as his thoughts became less than chaste.

* * *

C.J. heard the men laughing and she thought about stepping outside and asking them if she could join in their poker game. She figured they'd just tell her to get lost.

Even Matt who she had gotten the better of once or twice probably wouldn't welcome her in their midst. So instead she went to get some hay for her mare's nose bag and listened to the mare neigh contently as she dug in for her meal. She thought about heading back to the house to take that cold shower she really needed about now but…

She returned back to the groom's room and sat back down on the cot. The mattress groaned beneath her and she lay back on the comforter on top of it and looked up at the ceiling. Spider webs dominated the corners and the wood had cracked in several places but the damp heat hadn't penetrated the walls yet so it still felt cool. The cot was sturdy but comfortable and wide enough to fit two people if they overlapped meaning if they were wrapped up in each other's arms.

Even a large guy like Matt, who she'd love to have lying there right now with her. Oh the things she would do to make sure he didn't fall out of bed. But since that wasn't happening soon, she'd be left to her own thoughts.

She'd spend some time here looking at the ceiling and then she'd head inside.

* * *

Matt collected his winnings and looked around him at the crestfallen faces surrounding him. No doubt more than a few dreams and fantasies had just deflated as a result of his winning straight. Even Dylan just glared at him, tossing down his three of a kind.

Whoa that had been close, too close.

Best news for Dylan because there was no way that he'd be stepping foot in the barn to claim his prize anyway.

The men got up one by one after he did and slapped him on the back.

"Congratulations Matt…"

"Good job…"

"Don't keep her waiting…"

"Nail her good…"

He almost punched Carlton out for that line but he left them to head inside the barn.

"Hey Matt, you forgot something…"

He turned to look at Dylan who held up the small foil wrapped square before tossing it to him. Matt caught it deftly and slipped it in his pocket before heading into the barn.

* * *

C.J. just lay there on the couch considering her life in general and this summer of it in particular. She'd been working so damn hard sunrise to sunset wasn't she entitled just like anyone to kick back and relax? No, some double standard afforded only men with that opportunity.

Still the only thing that would really satisfy her right now was a good hard man. She'd never find one here so maybe if after her shower she got dressed in the only other dress she owned and some nice heels and went to the club, she could start out the night by doing some dirty dancing and then decide whether or not to take it to a motel room.

She was 21, living on her own, holding a full-timed job and if she wanted to find a guy to enjoy in her spare time, who would judge her for that? Other women did that; they just wouldn't have to be teased by a group of men the next day while out riding on the ranch.

That would work, she thought, she'd give herself the birthday present of going out and having some fun. Hoisting herself off the mattress, she noticed in the cracked mirror that her hair had gotten mussed up, her face flushed. She straightened up her top and brushed her hair down with her fingers.

Then she walked out of the groom's room and looked up to see Matt standing there. She felt his penetrating gaze on her and her skin warm at the sight of him there. Not long after he had taken her pussy inside of his mouth…at least in her fantasies.

"What are you doing here," she asked him.

He looked at her pointedly.

"I need to talk to you."

She sighed.

"Oh don't do that," she said, "Work hours are over and I'm going to hit the shower and then the club."

She tried to walk past him and he grabbed her arm, the strength of his grip stopped her in her tracks. The dominance of such a motion, her body tightened. God she hated when he did that, grabbing her, jerking her to either stop moving or fall into step with him. As if she were a child and not a grown woman. She sidestepped him this time and hoped he got the hint. Her mind was on her plans for the night which didn't involve him. Right now, she didn't need any lectures either. There were other ways to dominate a woman that were more pleasurable. Looking at him standing beside her, did she just think that?

He had always been a wall of a man and she wondered what it'd feel like to have his naked flesh press against her, flattening her breasts against his chest while he buried himself deep inside her. Oh, it was really getting warm inside here, she thought.

"What do you want Houston?"

If he tried to grab hold of her to make his point, she'd grab her arm away from him and continue to her cabin.

"It's about what happened outside," he said, "when the guys and I were playing poker."

She crossed her arms, her interest piqued. Something that lined his face just then attracted her.

"Okay I'm listening."

He looked down at his boots and that wasn't like him so she thought, this must be really interesting or really bad news so she braced herself.

"We were playing five card stud, nothing wild, my choice…"

"Okay, that's your best game..."

"But we weren't playing for money," he said, "We were playing for you."

She frowned at him, her arms still folded but her mind entertained some forbidden corners as his words reached her.

"What did you just say?"

Matt sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Exactly what I told you," he said, "Whoever won the poker match got to come in here and have sex with you."

Cutting right to the chase so quick she didn't know how to react.

She was almost too shocked at his revelation for words…almost but then something happened what she found most shocking is that what she really felt was turned on. it would be from what he just said. Some guys had played poker to win the chance to slide into bed with her and get spend the night with her… That pissed her off and made her want to set some chauvinistic assholes straight…and yet.

If Matt was here with her inside the barn, that meant only one thing.

That he had won the prize.

Oh her knees went weak at the idea that he had walked inside the barn with the intent of not leaving until he had claimed her. She knew she should be offended at the chauvinism behind the whole idea of men playing poker over a woman but looking at him right now softened her view of it.

She would be pissed off enough to get violent if it had been any other hand, Carlton and especially Dylan who had strutted in the barn telling her to take her clothes off and spread her legs.

Matt however, that was a whole different thing. When he told her to take her clothes off, there was no way in hell she was saying no. She'd rip her shirt off so that it could never be worn again…at least with buttons and the pants she wore would slide over her hips and down her legs so quickly…they'd probably burn her skin.

Her lingerie, also history and she'd stand in front of him, ready for him. Then she'd tell him it was his turn to take it all off.

Wait a minute here, what the hell was she thinking? If Matt had been playing poker with the best of them intent on nailing her, did that make him any better? She'd just never thought he'd do anything like this with her. Her fingers itched on one hand and she didn't know what she wanted to do with it first. Slap the face of the man in front of her or stroke it instead.

"C.J.…did you hear what I just told you?"

She nodded.

"Yeah I did Houston and since you're in here telling me all this, I'm assuming that you won the poker match."

He stared at her and the way he did, it was like someone had struck a match close to her and the heat that ignited reached her skin. Oh, she knew if he removed his pants, she might just make a liar out of him if he was swooping in to save her instead? That part of it didn't fit in her scenario.

She didn't want him in here doing the right thing and protecting her from the men did she?

Then the other part of her thought differently. Oh hell no, if he played through all those hands of poker to keep the other men away from collecting their prizes, then he could just walk out right now without looking back. She didn't need anyone to take care of her like that.

What she needed was the man in front of her to take a couple steps towards her and lay those lips of his on her mouth, and show her what it meant to be thoroughly kissed by a man who wouldn't just stop there. Treat her like a woman and not a defenseless child incapable of doing her own thinking.

She knew that deep inside of him, below all these good intentions, he wanted that too and he hid something in the darkness she sensed too. But how was she going to get him to stop playing the chivalrous cowboy and get his hands in her pants?

Inspiration needed to hit her quickly before either one walked out of there.


	3. Chapter 3

C.J. stared at the cowboy in front of her. Matt thought she'd looked too damn beautiful right now to make what he had to do easy.

"So you did win the poker match didn't you," she asked, "Isn't that why you really came inside the barn?"

He studied her face, and she felt the indecision behind his own, as if it were palpable. But he just shook his head.

"No C.J., I came here to tell you the truth," He said, "You follow my lead and play along and they'll leave you alone."

Oh he watched as her hackles went up, as pretty as they were, and he knew they were raised against him.

"Did I just hear you correctly," she said, "You want me to back up some story you plan to tell them that you scored with me, to keep them away or is it really to make you look like some kind of stud, who bagged the prize filly inside the barn?"

He blinked his eyes at her.

"Oh yeah Houston, I know what they call me when they think I'm not listening," she said, "and I know what they'd do to me if they got me alone."

He frowned at her.

"What do you mean?"

She sighed.

"Carlton's really into rope play and wants to truss me up against the fence here and then take me from behind while he bites the back of my neck like some stupid stud. Slim wants me to well…I don't want to get into that and Dylan…"

Matt put up a hand.

"C.J. you don't have to…"

Instead she took a step closer to him, her eyes defiant and that sent stirrings inside him all the way to where it shouldn't. But he'd just come into the barn to help her, only she didn't seem to get that the way she looked at him right now.

"And what would you like to do to me Houston?"

He heard the challenge in her voice which more than laced her words.

"I mean you won me in a poker match," she said, "I'm yours now aren't I? What would you like to do first?"

He sighed as he took in the young woman in front of him, the one whose curves his fingers itched to embrace, to run over gently at first and then with more power. She really shouldn't have asked that last question.

"You do what I say and follow my lead," he said, "and the whole thing will blow over in a couple of weeks."

She didn't believe that and she didn't trust his motives. That he wanted her to pretend that they'd just did it in the barn to convince the other hands that she belonged with him and thus was hands off. A delicious charge ran through her at the thought but she didn't let it change her stance. It was the worst plan she'd ever heard.

"No Houston I'm not going to do it," she said, "I'm not going to lie for you."

He frowned.

"You'd be lying for yourself not for me,"

"Bull shit, I'm not going to work each day alongside you with the men thinking I did you because you won me in a poker match when nothing happened. Listening to their jokes and innuendos of doing the boss."

He took one step towards her and she felt the intensity of the man, almost enough to retreat a step but she held her ground instead.

"So what's the alternative?"

She didn't miss a beat.

"We do it for real," she said, "That's the only way either one of us is going to get out of here with that story."

He just looked at her, as if she'd gone crazy. So he didn't want her after all, except in her fantasies.

"C.J., do you even know what you're saying?"

She folded her arms at him.

"Sure I do," she said, "I'm no liar so if you want me to tell the hands I slept with you, better make sure it's the truth."

He just shook his head at her and she saw something in his eyes that almost made her want to take that last statement back. Only now she couldn't so she stood there and waited for a response.

"I can't do that…"

She looked past his words into his eyes and read differently, She took one step closer to him, close enough so he could touch her. She knew he wanted to do that by the way his hands tensed with her approach.

"Why not…I'm not a girl anymore…I haven't been one in a while."

His mouth curved into a smile.

"Yeah I noticed… but you're my best friend and damn I really needed one a while back."

Oh that, he figured she didn't want him to talk about how she had pulled him from the depths of despair and nightmares so vivid he'd worn him on his face each day. She'd been the most important person in her life pure and simple. When he'd been in trouble she didn't have to think about involving herself she'd just done it even though it'd pissed him off at the time. But right now she didn't look like she wanted to think about all that.

She stepped even closer, close enough so he smelled the honey suckle from her hair, the jasmine bath soap she showered after each work day.

"I wouldn't stop you…and you won't want to stop me."

Before he could respond, she stepped closer to him to where they nearly touched and placing her hands on his shirt, she reached up to kiss him on his mouth. Damn, when she first flirted with his lips, with her own, he nearly jumped out of his skin. She brushed the lips he'd fantasized about over his mouth, almost like a whisper but it sent tendrils of pleasure through him. She seemed hesitant to intensify the pressure so he helped her with that by sliding his hands around her waist and pulling her closer to him, molding their bodies together.

He knew he shouldn't, he knew that he should stop her from kissing him but after all, it wasn't as if she hadn't warned him. He explored her own mouth with his, the delicate corners and where they slightly parted, where he would slide his tongue inside the split second before she expected it. His hands slid down her back to the fit of her jeans which he cupped and she felt that even with the denim in between her skin and his hands. She pressed against him while they continued to kiss. His body felt so hard against her softness as she explored his chest with her hands that he found himself wanting her to slip beneath his shirt.

"C.J.…"

She gasped against him as his lips sought hers again, and his capable hands scooped her up to move her towards the hay bales. He sat her down there and she reached for him, lest he have second thoughts about continuing, but Matt made it clear he wasn't going anywhere. His original intentions be damned…not when she made him feel like he did right now.

In fact, his hands moved to her shirt and he reached for that first button and undid it, casually as if she wouldn't notice. Only she did, it had been like his fingers had burned her skin rather than lightly brushed it as they worked on her shirt.

The second button, undone, then the third and the fourth as he worked his way down her shirt, slowly unwrapping her as he did so. Underneath she wore a black camisole and his eyes widened.

"What, a woman can't wear pretty things?"

He chuckled at the amazement in her voice, as he lightly stroked the silky material.

"Best gift wrapping I've ever seen," he said, as he bent to kiss the hollow of her throat, first with his lips and then a bit of teeth, which sent shivers through her.

She moved her head back allowing him greater access there, because what had started out tickling had intensified into elation. He stopped long enough to tug her shirt off of her shoulders and down her arms, and she helped him. She felt his intensity in the way he looked at her, the way the camisole sheathed her breasts. They hardened just under his gaze and ached to be touched by the fingers that had strummed their way through her shirt. But he just looked at her, his eyes suddenly difficult to read.

"What is it Houston?"

He smoothed her camisole against her body, and backed away.

"I can't do this," he said, "This was what wasn't going to happen."

She tilted her head looking at him, feeling suddenly exposed but not about to cover up. After all, she had done nothing wrong and she wanted his hands back where they belonged, on her breasts.

"Why," she said, "I'm a woman and I know what I want and it's right in front of me and I know you want me."

"How do you know that?"

She smiled at him and deftly reached forward with one of her hands and damn it if she didn't place it on what threatened to burst out of his jeans. She fondled it lightly before cupping her hand over it in a way that made him groan. But she never watched what her hand did, her eyes never left his while she felt the heat of him through his clothing.

"Don't do that…"

She looked at him without blinking but kept her hand on his groin.

"Do what?"

Then she gently squeezed him through the denim and he nearly jumped.

"Oh you mean that…but it feels so good though it'd feel a lot better somewhere else…"

He sighed, of course knowing exactly what he meant and if she weren't careful with her teasing, she'd find out quicker than she could blink. Didn't she know she was playing with fire here?

"C.J., I need you to stop for a moment,"

Some of the hardest words he had said in a long time and she just looked at him but she removed her hand off of his crotch. She looked at him more than a bit irritated by the interruptions.

"Why?"

"Because then there will be no going back…"

She sighed.

"I don't want to go back," she said, "I want this…I don't want to leave here without knowing what it's like to be with you. What's wrong with that?"

He shook his head.

"How many guys have you been with C.J.?"

She just looked at him blankly.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

He didn't answer her question.

"How many…?"

She just stared at him and then she started to slide off the hay bale. He grabbed hold of her before she got too far and she struggled.

"Let me go Matt," she said, "and I'll leave you alone."

He gazed in her face and saw pain there intertwined with frustration and want. She had stopped trying to pull away from his hold.

"Maybe a couple?"

She just shook her head at him this time.

"So what if that were true…what does that matter?"

He released his grip on her and rubbed the back of his neck while just looking at her sitting there with her camisole, wishing he could trace her hardened nipples with his fingers.

"It means that there's a world of difference between you and me," he said, "and that means not doing it and not like this."

She just looked exasperated more than moved by his words. No actually she looked angry but like she'd choose her words carefully like the lawyer she was training to be.

"Like what, we haven't even done anything," she said, "Where does it matter where we get it on if we both want it?"

"C.J.…"

"And don't tell me you don't…because what I felt through your Levis just made a liar out of you."

He reached out to stroke the hair off of her face. She looked angry at him but he couldn't just treat her like that and then pull up his pants afterward. After all, he had played poker with the other hands to stop any other man from doing that to her. Was he any better than he if he engaged in that behavior?

He'd gone soft for a moment, everywhere but inside his pants but he'd better get her moving on out of here before he changed his mind.

* * *

She watched the emotions play out on his face and she just wanted to hit him. He was going to say thanks but no thanks and walk away from her, leaving her with damaged pride and a discarded shirt.

No way in hell was she about to let that happen.


	4. Chapter 4

They just stared at each other, clearly at an impasse which C.J. thought was just plain silly.

She knew they both wanted the same thing, to get into each other's pants but Matt had all of a sudden developed a conscience. Not to mention that he developed one for her as well as if she needed it. She didn't want him to try to decide things for her out of friendship or worse…out of anything he felt that he owed her for pulling him out of the abyss.

He'd gotten his own ass out of his pit of despair. She'd just given it a swift kick when he needed it. She remembered how upset his father had been when Matt had spent his days drinking and his nights carousing after coming back from Iraq. Two young men gone off in search of adventure and to test themselves and only one of them came home.

So she and Bill had put their heads together and their hearts on hold for what they needed to do, which was to get down and dirty with the man they both loved. Tough love, some called it but it had exacted a price on both of them. Matt still bristled under the authority his father had exerted over his grown son and as for her…maybe he felt a bit guilty about how badly he'd treated her.

She could forgive that…because she'd seen inside his soul where the darkness that he'd seen threatened to consume him. But if he started being bossy, the gloves came off.

What she needed for him to do was to stop lecturing her about what she needed and start giving her what they both wanted right?

"We don't have to do it on the hay bale," she said softly, "there's always the cot in the groom's room."

He looked in that direction clearly giving it some thought even though he had just sworn to her nothing was going to happen between them. Oh, she could come up with a list of ways to make the worst liar in the county out of him in just under a minute.

Beginning with that she had felt trying to break out of his denim pants, it had felt amazing beneath her fingers even sheathed by the cloth. She couldn't wait to get up close and personal with it. But the way Matt looked at her now, he didn't look convinced.

"It's too small…"

"Not if we cuddle up close it's not," she said, "We could start with missionary and work our way from there."

Ooh, that got his attention and she saw him catch his breath. His hands clenched at his side, she knew so they wouldn't follow the impulse burning through him to reach out and touch her.

"C.J. what's gotten into you?"

She smiled.

"Nothing yet cowboy…maybe if you stopped talking…"

She wanted him to speak in other ways instead starting with his hands.

To trace the lace of her camisole and slip his hands beneath it to palm her breasts which felt so damn heavy right now, wanting a man's hands on them, especially those laced with calluses from a lifetime of field work. But his hands remained obediently at his sides so she lifted up her own hands and palmed her breasts, while rubbing the fabric of the camisole against them.

That felt pretty good, of course not as good as if he'd been doing it but he clearly needed some coaching.

"Oh god…"

Did that come from her or from him? She'd been thinking that just now but his lips were parted slightly as if he'd actually said it.

"They're all yours tonight if you want…all you got to do is reach out and touch them."

Oh but he seemed loathed to do that, was she really that unlike his other women or was his conscience much stronger than she'd ever guessed? Okay, now it might be the right time to peel her camisole right off of her body and liberate what it covered. She reached for it and he stopped her.

"Don't you dare...!"

She arched her brow at him, her fingers frozen on her camisole.

"Dare what…oh this…don't you want to see what's underneath?"

He closed his eyes briefly then and she knew when he took a gander at her creamy soft breasts, with nipples painted like wild roses, he'd have to adjust those jeans. She knew that nature had been generous with her though she hadn't always appreciated it. When he saw them for the first time, would he be able to keep his hands off of them?

God, she hoped not.

"You need to get your shirt…"

She folded her arms.

"Hell no, didn't you listen to what I said? I'm not lying for you and if you want me to sell your story, you know what I need first."

He sighed, his breath more ragged.

"How do you even know what you need?"

Her eyes flashed again and he knew she was getting angry which made her look all the sexier. That he didn't need right now so he tried to calm her down like he might an irate filly.

"Hey forget I said that," he said, "but you know what I mean. You acting like this all a sudden."

She shrugged.

"That's why I'm here," she said, "I want to do like you guys do, have some fun. What's there to say no to?"

Oh Matt thought he didn't know how to respond to that.

Looking at her standing there in her camisole and jeans that hugged that ass so nicely made it harder for him to do that…especially since a part of him wanted so badly to be released.

A vision of her pulling it out of his jeans he should just stop there before his heart stopped beating. She'd do it in a second if he asked, and he still didn't know why. What had gotten into his best friend?

She hadn't been drinking and hadn't hit her head on something hard as far as he knew.

Her lips parted in ways that….he had to figure a way out of this situation quickly. But his libido began to argue with him, his hands itched to touch her skin, to trace every inch of it in exploration. She seemed to read his mind because she began rubbing her camisole in a way that proved maddening to a man trying to keep his hands to himself. Did she know it was like sticking her fingers in a tiger's cage after he hadn't been fed in a week?

No clearly not, because she just smiled at him, licking her lips, the moistness of them made his body tense. Damn he needed it badly and he was losing patience.

But he'd promised himself he'd never look at her that way. As just another woman he'd coax into his bed.

If he lost control…no not an option. He needed her to do as he asked and go along with his story and then they could both just walk on out of there so they could each cool off.

"Like I said, I'm not leaving…"

His heart beat inside his chest, his skin tingled at the sight of her playing with the edge of her camisole teasing him. He grabbed her hand with his own to stop her and then he kissed her before he knew it.

It just happened like that.

His lips grasped at hers hungrily, nipping at the corners before he thrust his tongue into her mouth, rimming the inside with its tip. She gasped but didn't back away from him, rather she placed her hands on his hips while he circled her tongue with his own. That made her moan, and lean against him.

He felt his fingers inch towards her camisole and then slide underneath. Just an inch, brushing against the bare skin of her abdomen. She leaned against him even further and when she felt his bulge against her, she just looked at him.

That broke the spell and again he appeared tense.

"C.J. I can't…"

She looked straight at him.

"Oh yes you can…I need this and so do you…"

She reached for his hand then and placed it on her chest. She kept her gaze on him so he wouldn't break away and remember where she'd placed his hand. But the more he moved his fingers on her, the more she purred.

"Oh god…"

Now she knew he had said it and his face…he looked more relaxed but his eyes still remained locked in hers.

"Let's take this to the other room okay?"

She said that softly, but her voice carried the tension of holding back from the sensations he was giving her. That familiar ache in her pelvis, she needed something to fill it, something hard and unyielding.

He shook his head.

"No…not here…not in the barn…"

She looked up at him suddenly and he removed his hand from where it had felt so good.

"Then where?"

He paused, looking agitated and she bit back a smile. What was wrong with him, she could fix.

"The empty cabin behind the barn," he said, "No one's using it."

She nodded, remembering that after Doc left last month, it had remained vacant. Oh, it would still be furnished and even cleaned up for the next tenant but no one would suspect anyone of using it.

"So you want in…"

He looked at her and stroked her face.

"Oh yeah, I want in but are you sure that's what you want?"

She stared back at him.

"Yeah isn't that just what I said?"

He looked at her intently, enough so she could make out the golden flecks in his brown eyes.

"Well you better decide now because once we get in the cabin…"

She heard what he said and her heart skipped a beat, her blood raced because she couldn't wait to meet the side of him she'd seen hints of but never met.

"It'll be my rules…"

Okay, she could deal with that because after all, he had all the experience and like he said, she had none.

"I like to be in control, are you fine with that?"

She sighed impatiently.

"Can we just leave before you change your mind again?"

He stroked a tendril of hair off of her face.

"Oh I'm not changing it," he said, "I'm giving you a chance to do that."

But no, she had no intention of doing that, not before they'd even really gotten started. She knew what she wanted on this warm summer night.

"I'm not changing it…so forget that and just focus on how badly you want me."

Oh, that made his eyes dilate as he studied her and then he deftly pushed her against the hay bale, deftly opening up her thighs with his jean clad one.

"What…"

"Just a little taste of what you're in for…"

With that, he lifted his thigh up to where her jeans cloaked her pelvis and began rubbing it back and forth…and when the sensations first reached her, she fought not to cry out. But he kept nudging up the friction bit by bit until she bit her lip, while her body throbbed.

"You like that?"

She just nodded unable to speak.

"Then just imagine me sliding in that same sweet spot, back and forth..."

She just tried to breathe while he intensified the rubbing against her crotch. When she tried to fidget, he pressed her against the bale.

"You're sure you're ready for that?"

She looked into his eyes and she wondered at that for a moment now that she knew it was time to get down and dirty.

But by that point, she only had one answer left to give him.


	5. Chapter 5

He kissed her again before they left the barn and she felt those delightful shivers through her body again. She placed her hands on his chest, but while his lips worked hers, she started clawing at it with her nails. Damn, where had this guy learned to kiss, if it could be called that at all?

Then she remembered that he'd gotten a lot of practice at it and other things. It's not as if there'd been a shortage of willing women in Matt's life.

Beginning back in high school where the prettiest of them had competed with each other openly for the star quarterback. Most of them cheerleaders like some bad cliché. He'd been popular not aligning himself with one group but moving confidently within the cliques.

It wasn't all about his looks either or the cool factor, Matt had always been a genuinely nice guy underneath the wrapping. A guy she now enjoyed kissing.

His lips might be the only soft part of him, but they were firm enough to trail across her skin and leave a mark even if you couldn't see it. His mustache and the stubble on his jaw tickled and tormented her at the same time, as he slid his tongue in between her mouth. Not asking, but taking possession of it. She felt a jolt through her of wildness that originated inside him and she felt it and wanted more…what would his mouth feel like on other parts of her.

The nape of her neck, that stretch of skin between her neck and her shoulders….her breasts which hardened just at the thought of it and…oh man, she definitely wanted that mouth…she'd better stop thinking about all the places.

She sighed fidgeting as he kissed her jaw line.

"Are we ever going to get out of here?"

"Shhh…in a minute," he said, "You sure you want to rush into bed?"

"Well I want to get this party started," she said, "and find out what's underneath your clothes."

He chuckled and kissed her again, his hands splayed on her back, caressing it in ways that made her suck in her breath more than once.

"I thought you might want to take it a little slow"

She snorted.

"I've been taking it slow since I arrived here…and I've been waiting so I think it's time to show me what you got in those pants."

* * *

He sucked in his breath then at his boldness. Sometimes she acted like a little minx teasing him in ways men shouldn't be teased. Not when they were rock hard in their jeans and one feminine touch would set their skin on fire. If she weren't careful, she'd be introduced to his rope collection at some point tonight. Roping cattle had earned him some nice belt buckles but it wasn't his only talent with a lasso.

"So you ready cowboy?"

But then again, if she was looking for a hearts and flowers guy, she was definitely in the wrong place. Then he remembered what was in his pocket anted into the pot during the poker match.

"I've brought something so we're covered."

She smiled at him and touched his face with her fingers.

"That's okay, I'm covered," she said, "I'm on the pill…"

That astonished him.

"You're what…but…"

She sighed, furrowing her brow in a way that made him want to reach out with his fingers to smooth the tension out of her.

"Shut up Houston," she said, "I don't want to hear about it. You are not the expert of me."

He chuckled.

"Yeah I know that," he said "You never cease to amaze me Miz Parsons."

She smiled at him.

"Better believe it," she said, "I'm not your typical woman Houston."

His brows arched.

"What makes you the expert of me?"

"Touché."

* * *

He cupped her face in his hands, not surprising her with his gentleness.

"I just want it to be special."

Oh that riled her up again as she just looked up at him. Why did he treat her as someone to take care of, to protect like a china doll dressed in bubble wrap inside a box?

"Houston, I never had you pegged as a romantic," she said, "but that's not what I need or want."

"Then what do you want?"

"I want some of that raw power of yours," she said, "and don't worry about hurting me with it. I'm tougher than I look."

"I know that….but this isn't about being tough enough to drag a snake bit man two miles back to the ranch."

Oh he remembered that too.

"I know what it's about," she said, "It's about what we both want. So why don't we get started?"

He just looked at her as if he still couldn't believe it or her. Could he really be this dense with all the women?

"So why don't you show me this cabin…beginning with the bedroom."

He smiled at her eagerness which matched that which sprung up inside himself though he kept it hidden.

"Who says we're starting in the bedroom?"

She went to grab her shirt and slipped it back on her camisole, buttoning it up too quickly to line them up right. Oh well, it'd just be coming back off again when they reached the cabin so no worries there.

He looked at her and slipping his arm around her shoulder, they walked to the entrance and opened the door.

* * *

Quietness met them instead of a group of horny ranch hands living vicariously through Matt tonight while he nailed his prize. They walked across the clearing to the other side of the barn and she saw the cabin ahead. It was fairly crude from the outside but actually boasted plumbing inside including a bathroom, just next to the kitchenette. She knew this because she had cleaned it out between residents.

The large sized bed was in the living room across from the fireplace and next to a small office area. Comforters were folded at the edge of the bed and it had two nice pillows, and unlike many of the beds on the ranch, it was postered. When he opened up the door, it was the first thing she saw when he flipped on the lights switch, the setting where she'd finally know what all the fuss was about. The thought of that quickened her breath and she felt nervous for the first time. She had fantasized about a moment like this but never thought it'd happen.

He picked it up and looked at her.

"Having second thoughts?"

She shook her head.

"No…are you?"

He responded by wrapping his arms around her and pulling into another one of his toe curling kisses. Gently sucking on her mouth while he claimed it, and this time she slid her tongue inside his mouth first, marveling in his taste. God, the little minx, he thought, darting it around in dizzying circles inside, flirting with his own tongue. Just like that, she had turned the tables on that kiss. She reached down and cupped his ass in her hands and squeezed it.

"C.J.…"

She broke the kiss and just looked at him.

"You don't like a woman's hands on your ass," she said, "I'm going to need something to hold onto when we go riding."

His breath hissed at her words and he ran his fingers over her back itching to take another look at that camisole before he ripped it right off of her.

"I like it just fine," he said, "I thought you'd want to slow this down a notch now that we're here."

She looked around the room again as if it hit her then. Yeah, she was here with more than six feet of red blooded man, his lips had left her mouth tingling and the feel of his hard body, weakened her legs. She probably knew the affect she had on him.

Did she really have any idea of what she was in for with him? She didn't look like at this point she even cared. He just looked at her and then he stepped away from her. Not the direction he wanted to go because his fingers itched to tear through those buttons of her shirt. But…instead he stood back and watched.

"Take it off…your shirt," he said, "And work every button…no rushing, I want to see every little bit of your skin at a time."

She just shot a look at him and he thought she might argue but she just swallowed and her fingers reached for her top button. Did they tremble slightly as she worked it loose or was that his imagination? Her face still had that brazen look and her body stood poised as if she knew what she was doing with him. If she had any nervousness, any fears beneath the surface in what lay ahead, he'd discover them soon enough.

Her speed quickened a bit as she worked her way down her shirt, and his eyes widened at the sight of the camisole teasing him from underneath it. Oh, he loved the silky feel of it under his hands but even it had to come off soon. But not right away, he thought because he wanted the unwrapping of his prize to take place slowly…

She reached the bottom finally and tentatively slid the shirt off of her shoulders and let it fall on the floor. His hands oh, they itched to slide over the sheerness of it and then peel it off slowly, from the top or bottom, didn't matter as long as he could see her skin beneath.

Not to mention those breasts, he had felt the nipples against him already, and he wanted at some point to suck them one at a time inside his mouth, to see if they tasted like ripe cherries. But not now…he had to control himself because he didn't want her to run out of the cabin. Despite her bravado, Matt knew she rode a razor fine line between desire and fear, the combination of which intoxicated him. It was new territory for the both of them and he felt it keenly too. He shifted his position, as he watched her looking at him.

"Now the jeans…slowly…I want to enjoy every inch of those nice long legs," he said, "and find out what color panties you've been wearing."

She sighed.

"I like all colors," she said, "It's the only way I remember that I'm a woman sometimes."

He chuckled heartedly, his chest rumbling.

"Oh I can help you with that problem," he said, "find all different kinds of ways to remind you what you are C.J..."

She cast him a challenging look even while she stood there wearing fewer clothes than him.

"And what's that?"

He licked his lips.

"A woman only too aware of her effect on the men around her," he said, "Including me."

Her voice caught.

"Oh I know…I've always known," she said, "I'm just not running away…"

He saw her tremble then and her hands moved to the snap on her jeans as she unbuttoned it while he watched. She unzipped them and slowly slid them over her hips and down her thighs, and lo and behold, she wore some black bikini panties, the silkiness sheathing her sex. Oh man, he liked the way the cut accentuated her tanned legs, marred only by a silvery scar across one where some barbed wire had caught her when she got thrown by a horse. He'd trail kisses all the way up to it, when he had the chance.

But first things first…she had to lose those pants all the way. She watched him carefully as she did just that, after removing her boots. She had to lean against the closest wall to do that which didn't bother him because the wall would come in handy sometime that night. She kicked them off and stood in front of him with several pieces of lacy fabric shielding her body from his eyes which would burn through them if they could.

* * *

She swallowed her throat dry at the gaze in his eyes. Her muscles tensed because she knew he'd make short work of what was left of her clothes.

She'd watched him working in the field for years. He had the speed and agility to dodge charging bulls and catch wayward yearlings. He could walk two steps in a flash and probably find a way to have his cock inside of her in nothing flat. The thought excited her because if she didn't see it coming, maybe then she could focus on the sensations of him fucking her.

But he just stood there, fighting some basal instincts she knew and she felt naked for the first time in his presence.

"You want me to take it all off?"

He shook his head.

"No I want you to do a few things for me first," he said, "Now relax, they're going to be fun and make you feel really good."

She felt skepticism creep through her. She had thought that once they hit the cabin and closed the door, that he'd be on her in a flash, the clothes would go flying off and they'd be rolling in the sack as if they'd waited too long already. She didn't get all this buildup. She didn't need it, really. She needed him rough edges and all and she needed it now.

Now if she could just convince him of that, she thought as they stood watching each other, the sound of their breathing filling the room.

But what came next, she didn't anticipate.


	6. Chapter 6

Had he just told her to stand still?

C.J. asked herself when all she wanted to do was move her body against his, even though it hardly seemed fair that he still had all his clothes on.

While she stood in front of him dressed only in a camisole and panties, and the dampness in between her legs reminded her of what she wanted. She folded her arms as he stared at her, watching him carefully too. If she took her eyes off of him for one second, would he choose that moment to sweep her off the ground and take her to the bed?

"So what do we do now?"

He just smiled at her.

"Because I'm just about naked and you're still dressed."

He sighed taking one step closer to her.

"Not nearly naked enough," he said, "but I want you to do something for me."

She tried to keep her voice calm, to see nonchalant, though her heart pounded in her ears.

"What?"

"Tell me this is what you really want."

"Houston…what about you," she said, "you starting to have second thoughts?"

He looked directly at her and shook his head.

"Now you tell me what you want."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"I thought I made that clear cowboy. I want what's right in front of me."

He tilted his face.

"Okay then. Take off the rest of your clothes…"

She folded her arms looking straight back at him. Damn he was testing her again in that infuriating way he used.

"If you're man enough, you'd do it yourself."

He chuckled again clearly amused rather than offended.

"Oh I plan to do that, but ladies first…"

She snorted.

"I'm not a lady…"

"Oh I know that C.J.. It's just an expression."

"I know…"

She shrugged and she reached lift up her camisole rubbing the fabric against her breasts. But she stopped, her face flushing.

"This is hard with you standing there and watching."

He didn't move an inch or flinch a muscle.

"Then close your eyes until you feel you can't any longer."

So she did that and she relaxed as she stroked her breast through the material and felt the tingling reach beneath as her breasts firmed and when she cupped them, she arched her body to increase those sensations.

She thought she heard him groaning but continued, playing with the lace as she moved her hands over her chest in the guise of removing her camisole. As she continued, she felt turned on not just by her own touch but knowing that the man she had used in her fantasies was watching her, just a few feet away.

"C.J. you feeling a bit shy there?"

She blew a tendril of hair away from her face.

"I don't think so…a crime against a lady taking her time with her clothes?"

Something crept in her voice which she didn't want him to hear, the part of her that didn't treat this as if it were ordinary. She couldn't let any man see that part of herself even him.

Especially him. He could hurt her more than any other man had ever done. Even…she bit her lip and focused back on disrobing. She flirted with stroking her abdomen, the strip of it that showed between her camisole and her panties.

So she flirted with her abdomen, the strip of it that showed between the camisole and her panties. When she tried to slide her fingers beneath her panties, he put a stop to that pretty quick.

"What the hell you doing?"

She arched a brow at him.

"I think it's pretty obvious to someone like you."

"No…only mine will touch you there," he said, "now get undressed."

She exhaled at that because she had felt the stirrings of tension winding up deep inside of her pushing her close to the abyss but only teasingly so. Oh what he promised…but she felt herself weakening. Now that she was getting down to it…the realness of it and the emotions it evoked in her…made it damn tough to be casual.

"I don't know if I can…"

"Oh yes you can," he said, "just think about how primed that body's going to be for what's coming later on by the time I get done."

Okay, she could handle that so she intensified the pressure of her fingers trying to slide her camisole up.

"Promises, promises…"

He growled at that and she watched him approach her, sliding his hands up her outer arms until they settled on her shoulders.

"I don't make promises I don't keep."

"Neither do I."

Then he did something that really shook her up. He slid one hand underneath her panties while looking straight at her. She felt his calluses rubbing against her so intimately it caused a hitch in her breathing. Damn him, he had gone straight for the prize.

"You like that," he said, "Don't you…"

"Mmmmmm…."

He continued fondling her where it felt so damn hot. If she surrendered it her legs would buckle sending her to the floor unless he caught her.

The power he held over her with that one single act threatened to overwhelm her; she couldn't let him have it. But getting the words out proved to be damn difficult.

"So what do you want in return or are you into having all the control over a woman?"

He just smiled, his damn fingers kept playing with more than just her body.

"Is control important to you?"

A wave of emotion swept over her even as the anticipation of pleasure grew inside of her.

"Sometimes…"

"Forget those times. It's not always necessary to be in control."

She snorted lightly.

"Spoken like a typical man…you're not a woman Houston and you can't ever do that."

His face was next to her ear.

"You can with me…"

But she shook her head.

"No…not with anyone…or…"

Her voice trailed off as the sensations he elicited coiled up inside of her abdomen.

"I need you Houston…"

She didn't even try to hide her emotions that fed that statement and he looked at her thoughtfully as his hands rode over her breasts which caused a gasp to escape her lips, but he didn't remain there nearly long enough. He moved towards the hem of her camisole and then he tugged it upward and she realized what he was doing.

So she helped him by lifting her arms off so he could slip it off of her, leaving her dark curls brushing in front of her shoulders and her full breasts exposed to him for the first time. Oh god, when he saw them what did he think. She liked her breasts once she stopped fearing the response they elicited in the men around her.

Matt moved his hands to his own shirt and whipped it off more quickly, exposing that magnificent chest of his that rippled with muscles from a life of hard work, and sprigs of dark hair she longed to twist around her fingers to see if he'd like it. His abs were hard and taut and she saw where a stripe of dark hair disappeared beneath his jeans. Oh, they definitely had to come off soon, to put them on more equal footing.

He pressed her against the wall then, his weight preventing her movement but the way the hair on his chest teased her breasts before flattening them, she didn't care and his mouth assaulted her neck coaxing the skin inside, just enough to fit between his teeth. A gentle nip or two nearly made her jump.

"So what do you want now," she said, breathing hard.

He smiled lazily, though his eyes looked as charged as she felt.

"I want to taste you…"

His mouth traveled down her neck and in between the hollow of her breasts lapping at the beads of perspiration while she tried not to hyperventilate. If she fainted, would he catch her?

He slid his mouth around her breasts kissing them while he palmed them and god, if she didn't arch against him begging for more, she'd go crazy. He flirted with her nipples as she braced herself for when he'd slip one in his mouth. He tongued them first, tracing the edges of the aureole all the way around. She tried to clench the wall with her fingers but it proved too slippery.

When he popped a nipple in his mouth and suckled on it, she had to fight to keep still for him. Not that she wanted to, but his hand pressed her against the wall and she fidgeted while he sucked her nipple, twirling his tongue around it in his mouth.

Far from hard and fast he was intent on playing with her at first like he did now. She felt so on edge that one nudge would send her toppling and that's when Matt's mouth left her breasts and descended even lower. Some kisses on her belly, a tongue lick in her navel that sent an electric charge through her and then…

"Houston…"

Her voice more ragged than a moment ago but he was getting too damn close too fast.

"C.J.…just relax and go with it…"

He returned to mouthing her nipples and she felt her body tense up in anticipation.

"Oh….god…"

* * *

Then something else appeared on her face and he stopped. Something had changed between them.

Was she about to leave him, was what they shared too intense, he knew that if she felt she were weak in front of him, she'd bolt.

She'd leave the cabin even barely dressed. Reaching down for her panties, she pulled them back up, her fingers trembling while looking at him. The bravado had left her face and what replaced it, flashed by too quickly for him to keep up.

Maybe it was time to find some rope but before he could move away he had a better idea.


	7. Chapter 7

Matt looked at the woman who had just pulled up her panties in front of him and decided to forget the rope tonight. He didn't know what had just happened that had put her in flight mode.

She looked him in the eye, the man who now held her between a wall and his even harder body. While his eyes appraised here, hers were on the door.

"Don't go. When you came here with me, you knew what you wanted."

"So did you when you won that poker match."

"Stay the night and we can both get what we want."

She shook her head.

"No…you'll get everything."

"You changing your mind. That's okay if you are but can you tell me why?"

"You wouldn't understand Houston…"

"Why wouldn't I?"

She sighed, standing there so still.

"You've gotten every woman you've ever wanted since high school," she said, "and without looking back. Don't get me wrong. I'm not judging you. I wanted to be like that too…"

He shook his head.

"Why…would you want that? C.J…there's nothing wrong with being different…from anyone else especially me."

She narrowed her eyes.

"You saying you aren't in to casual…but Houston it's what you do. You're so damn good at it too."

He sighed.

"Ever wonder why that is? Sometimes I do…"

"Really? Why is that? It's a lot easier your way Houston…"

He fingered a strand of hair off of her face.

"Easier's not always better…"

She appeared to digest that.

"But I still want to try…so why don't we?"

He pressed his body against hers knowing exactly what she meant but long enough in her arms, she might become putty. She didn't know the affect that he had on her…not yet. But she still had an eye on the damn door.

"Don't go."

She sighed, her breath still uneven.

"You're in my way."

He braced himself by placing his hands on the wall on either side of her and he looked intently into her eyes, searing a pathway there.

"We're not done."

Oh she knew that was true but she'd ceded him too much control over her already. She never wanted any man to think he owned her even for a moment and when she had been writhing under his fingers and his mouth, she sensed his possession and now, she knew it hadn't been enough for him.

Not to mention what it did for her.

"There's so much more I want to do with you."

She felt heady from the intensity of his words and her body tensed again.

"But you still have your pants on," she said to keep it light.

"I can fix that," he answered with a smile.

He watched her carefully while he unsnapped his pants, lowered his zipper and pushed his jeans down his thighs sculpted by years in the saddle not to mention hiking through every kind of terrain. He wore black briefs and now with most of his clothes off, he looked as magnificent as she'd imagined in her fantasies.

She thought he'd discard his briefs as well but he reached for her again, his hands settling on her shoulders and he kissed her mouth, more intently than earlier. Her own lips felt invigorated and responded, her hands touching his bare chest. His muscles there twitched beneath her fingers and she marveled at the warmth of his skin.

She knew he wasn't the only one simmering inside with heat.

He reached his hands in front of her and palmed her breasts while he slipped his tongue in between her lips. His hands nearly spanned their roundness and he massaged them gently while tonguing inside her mouth. The pressure of his hands there felt wondrous and she sighed as he used that to pin her against the wall again while he explored her mouth again. She felt the reverberations of pleasure from what he did to her threaten to overwhelm her again and she pushed the feeling of losing herself away. He just felt too damn good right now.

She felt a thigh wedge in between her legs as Matt parted them gently enough to stand in between them. His body pushing against hers in ways that made her gasp…and then almost recover.

"It's all yours if you want it," he whispered.

She tried to breathe through the whirlwind of feelings that pulsated from inside her. It felt so damn good the friction he built up between them, enhanced by their clothing. If she weren't careful, he'd know how much.

It'd be better for her if she could just focus on the pleasure and not keep score on what they did to one another. But it didn't feel safer to just bow to the pleasure building up again inside her. It made her feel uneasiness interlaced with the passion he evoked in her. His lips worked hard to convince her otherwise, and slowly she felt her resolve melt away.

"So where do you want it to be…right here or on the bed?"

She felt at a loss for words as his lips moved down her neck and he moved his body even closer as he reached down to grab her ass, lifting her up slightly to rock against it. Damn him for that.

But she couldn't find the words.

"I…"

Matt watched her closely, his own body driving him crazy by now, needing release inside of her. He couldn't take his eyes off of her at this point.

The way her pelvis sculpted her panties, like her breasts had her camisole left him with the task of trying to hold onto his self-control. He reached out to caress her lower face and she actually leaned into his caresses, looking at him.

"It's going to be an amazing experience C.J.…"

Her eyes knit in concentration but her body relaxed a bit, enough so that when he kissed her this time, more softly, like warm breath on her lips, she let him. His body pressed her against the wall again and damn, he felt rock hard against her. She felt her pussy ache for what it needed and what she wanted.

"Take them off…"

She looked up at him suddenly, and she shook her head.

"I'm not taking my underwear off first…"

He sighed.

"Then take off mine."

She blinked her eyes and then she reached out her hands because she just had to see what lay beneath his briefs. When she brushed her fingers against his bulge, he hitched his breathing and that gave her the confidence to continue. She slipped her fingers underneath the waistband and sliding his briefs over his gorgeous ass and oh…my…her mouth dropped when she took at him completely naked for the first time.

"You like this don't you…?"

He didn't answer her, he didn't even look at her and she knew she held the power in her hands now. So she kept both hands on his cock, exploring it while he fought to keep from squirming. Headiness filled her as she saw his struggle, and she thought about how much he'd like it when she substituted one of her hands with her mouth.

"I want to taste you…"

His breath caught in his throat.

"Not now…It'll be over before it starts."

She tilted her head still toying with that part of him with her thumb including that sweet spot underneath, the one that nearly had him jumping out of his skin.

"Don't worry about that," she promised.

Looking at her, he had no doubt she would, damn when she had grabbed hold of him, her nervousness had faded again. Good, let her feel as if she controlled him and when he turned the tables on her, she'd be too far gone with pleasure to care. Surrendering himself to a woman, he'd just never done it, that's all.

"Later…right now I've got other things I want to do."

She sucked in her breath looking at him without letting go of him but when he pressed against her this time, his body rubbed against hers. Her hands moved reflexively to his ass and she felt the power in the muscles there as he tensed them to keep from thrusting.

"I need you now…"

His voice sounded hoarse and the hardness of him teased her. But this time she squirmed away from his embrace and now stood behind him.

She tossed him a smile and a few bold words.

"Then come and get me…"


	8. Chapter 8

Damn, Matt thought, maybe he did need that rope after all.

Some fillies needed to be lassoed and trussed up and not be playing with a stallion's libido. He'd always picked the brand with the softest feel against a filly's sensitive skin and approached her slowly before tying her up.

That's the way he'd handled female horses. But while he'd been tempted a time or two that's not how he handled his women. He knew that C.J. wouldn't take to that at all.

She stood there watching him from across the room, breathtaking in her wild beauty, her hair cascading around her and her toned body wearing only some sinfully cut panties. Matt was a patient man on the ranch, they didn't come any more so than him and sometimes the other ranch hands had to check to make sure he wasn't asleep on his feet when trouble struck. But no, right now his eyes never left her. She didn't look nervous or scared, but she didn't look like she was going to do what he wanted, when he wanted it.

"So what you going to do big guy…"

His mouth remained in a line, but his eyes harbored amusement.

"Get on the bed C.J.…"

She folded her arms covering those fine looking breasts. Oh he wasn't having that, and if he couldn't find any rope in the damn cabin, maybe he could just find a belt to tie up her wrists when he caught up with her. Really, he was barely holding onto his patience, his cock was rock hard and throbbing against his abs and his muscles tensed.

"Why…so you can go all Neanderthal on me and tell the other guys afterward?"

"You know me better than that."

"Oh so I do," she said, "Not this side of you."

His face softened.

"C.J., what happens in that bed is between the two of us," he said, "I'm not one to go bragging afterward what I've done with a woman."

She didn't look like she believed him. She'd just got the idea in her head that she might find what they did written up on the side of the barn because no doubt, she had heard the hands talk trash about the women they'd been with since she started working at the ranch. He might be her best friend but he was a guy after all.

"I'll be that woman that slept with the foreman," she said, "and I've worked my ass off trying to prove I'm as good at everything on the ranch as them."

"That's not going to happen C.J..."

"Sure it will and they'll see me coming and then stop talking just looking at each other," she said, "and I can't live like that."

He sighed in frustration.

"Look, I won you in a poker game where we all played to see who'd be hitting the sack with you," he said, "so no matter what happens now, that's what they'll believe we did."

She knew that part of it was true, but she didn't come one step closer to him.

"It's hard being the only woman Matt," she continued, "I need the men to respect me or I won't be good at my job."

This coming from the woman who out rode, out lassoed and once hauled Slim two miles across tough terrain after he got bit by an irate diamondback rattler. He got her point, because the stronger she looked in front of the men, the more they wanted her horizontal where they felt she belonged and she couldn't miss that.

But damn, if she didn't get on the bed right now, he'd just burst. She stood there looking at him, in her near nakedness, her skin already branded by his touch.

Her lips so close to his own, which still tasted her and wanted more.

He stood there naked as the day he'd been born with the worst case of blue balls since he didn't even want to remember.

"You going to get a rope and tie me up Matt?"

He just looked at her inquisitive face. Damn, she knew he'd handled many a four legged filly that way. He picked the response that'd keep her on her toes.

"I'm considering it."

She digested that and he could tell her heart beat as rapidly as his did from across the room. He didn't know if she were seriously reluctant to slip between the sheets with him or whether she was testing him. But whatever her motive, soon enough she'd find out what it was like to play with fire.

"I'm not your filly to control…I don't belong to any man."

"Never said you did," he said, "but this isn't about belonging to anyone. It's about having a good time."

She didn't answer that because he thought he might accuse her of being a tease next but she just watched him. He had to at least even the playing field by getting those panties off of her. She just arched her brow at him again.

"Why don't you let me tie you up instead?"

Oh no, he thought, no way would he allow her that much freedom over him, that much control.

"I could truss you up in that bed and do all kinds of things," she said, "Don't you want me to do that?"

Oh he did, but right now all he could think was about getting her to do what they both wanted. He took one step closer to her and she just watched.

He knew she wanted to be caught, she wanted him to approach her, to take charge and grab hold of that wiggling body of hers and put her in the center of the bed. She wanted him to pin her to the mattress and feel him so deeply inside of her she didn't know where he ended and she began.

Foreplay as they called it had proven to be an arduous task, harder than herding stubborn yearlings into a corral for sure. He'd just make sure all this work was worth it when he achieved his goal.

So he took another step forward.

"Didn't you like what we just shared?"

She took a step backward and found her back against a wall. Not a good situation but his words had begun to weave their spell.

"It wasn't…bad…"

"Liar."

She folded those arms again, blocking his view of her breasts. Oh he had to break her of that habit quick.

"How so?"

"Because I heard those little cries you make when you're trying so hard to keep from showing when you like it, you really shouldn't bother hiding it because when you do, your face turns a nice shade of scarlet."

She dropped her mouth open.

"I'm dying to see that again but we both know what we got to do first," he said, "So I'm asking for you to get on that bed unless you want me to take you against that wall right now."

Oh her eyes widened involuntarily as she got a sense of what it'd be like to have over 200 pounds of raw power, all muscle picking her up by her ass and then he'd be where they both needed him to be, where she could feel all of him. Rocking her against the wall, the friction would just about kill her. They'd probably crack the damn wall in the process.

Oh, but the pleasure he'd give her. He might be a man who enjoyed dominating his women but he wasn't entirely selfish or stingy considering he'd gotten her off twice already and her, well she hadn't done anything for him.

Pretty damn selfish on her part, she realized. Maybe it was time to just take one step closer to him.

Then just like that, he was right up against her, his hands on her body and his mouth over hers, not allowing her any chance of escape. Pinning her in with his large hands on either side of her as he worshipped her mouth in that way he had that left her spinning.

Out of control, mustn't lose control or she'd never get it back. Would that really be so bad? No, it'd be so good.

"I'll take you right here if you want it but I'm not waiting any longer…"

She breathed against his chest, where she smelled his musk, it surrounded her and she found herself hungry for him too. Her mouth answered his by kissing him frantically, on his lips, around them and she felt his stubble tickle her chin.

"I need you too Houston…god…but…"

He spanned his waist with her hands and his body pressed against hers too damn intimately. She quivered just from that from the knowledge that one careful stroke, one deliberate movement of his powerful body and everything between them would change.

The reality of it elated her. The realization of that filled her with fear too. No, she couldn't allow him to make her feel that way, how would she go out and do her work knowing she'd slept with her foreman, the oldest cliché in the book.

Primal and seeping with machismo in a world that thrived on both, she'd always known that even as she struggled to find her way through it. Realizing that her biggest bargaining chip wasn't the brain between her ears but someplace else. She hated the truth behind that in the world that raised her from the cradle.

She sighed against him as he thrust gently, just enough to tease her with the promise of what he could fill it with if she'd just let him. She felt the tension of his body, of what could be unleashed any moment, and then he really wouldn't be able to stop. She caressed the tautness of his arms, corded with muscle that strained under his attempts to not take her hard against the wall.

"Houston…I need you…"

He kissed her neck, grabbing some skin in between his teeth, gently biting as his hands slid underneath the waistband of her panties and he began to lower them off of her body. She tensed then and looked at him.

If he removed him, she'd lose her edge over him.

His voice turned raspy.

"I need you too."

She pressed the top of her head into his chest as she pressed the nakedness of her pelvis against his for the first time and felt him. His hands moved to cup her ass. He knew that she carried a lot of mixed emotions inside her of what she wanted, and what she feared. She wanted him badly enough so he'd know it

Men and women hooked up around here as soon as their bodies grew up enough to come together that way. He'd lost his own virginity at 15 to the daughter of one of his boss's trainers. She'd been two years older than him and had taken the eager young Matt under her tool age but he remembered how she urged him to keep quiet about it. Difficult considering it had been the landmark experience of his life up to then but he knew how society would crow over his accomplishment and frown in disapproval at her looseness.

He'd be damned if that'd be happening to C.J.

He thought about that as he lowered his mouth on her full lips, caressing them, teasing them as he pressed her against the wall and slowly his thigh began to nudge her legs open just a little bit.

Then she shook her head at him then and pulled away.

"I can't do it here…the bed, it'll be better," she whispered, her eyes probing his and he nodded.

"You ready?"

She nodded slowly and took a deep breath.

"As ready as I'll ever be I guess."

He tilted her face up with a couple of fingers and looked directly into her eyes.

"No guessing here," he said, "either you are or you aren't and you'd better tell me now if you're not."

She looked at him and he saw her struggle with her decision. Not to fuck him but how to live with the action afterward.

He knew of a way to help her with that and it didn't even involve using rope.


	9. Chapter 9

He caressed the hair off of her face, as she looked at him.

"You're so damn beautiful," he said, "I don't know why it took me so damn long to realize that."

She sighed.

"It's mine to decide and I wasn't about to raffle it off when I turned 18 to a bunch of horny men."

He chuckled at that, as he gazed down at the woman he had pinned against the wall.

"I remember the day you turned 18," he said, "When I saw you dancing at the independence party, I almost cut in."

Despite the sensations he elicited in her, she was curious to hear what he did instead.

"Well, why didn't you," she said, "In case you didn't notice, Carlton had his hand on my ass."

That made him frown and his muscles tense against her.

"I almost kicked his ass over that," he said, "You're still a young girl."

"Not a girl, I'm a woman and not much younger than you."

Oh yeah, he knew that, he knew that when he slipped one of her nipples in his mouth, ran his tongue over it and now, with his body pressed against hers. The elation he felt beyond his imagination.

"What would you have done," she said, "Would we have danced?"

"At first," he said, "Close enough for every inch of our bodies to touch, the slow songs only."

She considered that and nodded.

"You should have gone for it Houston," she said, "I never knew you to let an opportunity pass by to get what you wanted."

"You're too damn young."

"Oh but you're not?I'm only a year older now and you've got me buck naked and I can feel how hard you are," she said, "so would we have just danced?"

He sighed.

"Nah, after we danced a couple of songs, I would have said something like we needed to go cool off with some iced sweet tea…"

She chuckled, despite the way her heart raced right now.

"Oh really, and you would have heated up things instead?"

He smiled, at the easygoing banter between them now, it all came down to how you handled a woman and he knew C.J. enough to know how to handle that.

"Oh yeah, you see we'd have gone inside the barn and if we had…this poker match tonight never would have taken place."

She got that stubborn glint in her eyes again.

"There are a lot of ropes inside the barn," she said, "Was that what you had planned?"

He stroked her face again, his fingers casually moving down the side of her neck.

"No actually, no need for them" he said, "not when you have a gift for sweet talking."

She laughed not able to help it. The audacity of the man in front of her. Yeah he'd been successful with most any girl he wanted but none of them were her.

"You would have talked me out of my underwear?"

He nodded looking almost too sure of himself.

Her brow arched.

"How do you know I'd been wearing any?"

He looked at her, his eyes widening slightly and she smiled.

"I got you. Matt, I'm not some trembling girl like you think and I'm not easy either."

He cupped her chin in his hand, stroking her lips with his thumb.

"I know you're not C.J.," he said, "but I'm done talking about how I would have taken you last year and I want to show you how I'm going to take you now."

If she looked taken aback by his firm tone, she didn't say anything. But when he grabbed hold of her, she felt his lips do a slow burn on her mouth this time as he pressed her against the wall and nudged her legs open with his knee. She struggled at that and his grip tightened.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

He interrupted his kiss enough to tell her.

"I'm making you mine. Isn't that what you want? You want a guy to show how you how it's going down?"

She pressed against him.

"I never said that. I can't do that."

He pushed himself in between her thighs and she really felt him then. Her body throbbed with how close he was to just thrusting that part of him where she wanted it but… she didn't want to be viewed as the boss's whore by everyone around her.

"You want me, I know you do," he said, "Well, you're getting what you want."

He grabbed hold of her then, and damn that pissed her off. She didn't atone to being dragged off into his lair so she tried to break free from his tight embrace, but he just held her tighter.

Then she realized he wouldn't have to tie her up, because he had raw strength to use for control.

"Stop it C.J.," he whispered at her, "Stop teasing me."

That made her see red and she struggled even harder, but it wasn't just anger that drove her but something more primal than that. She'd always been a fighter, struggling to survive; it was her first language from the cradle.

Somehow he knew that.

"Don't you dare call me a tease or I'll…"

"Or you'll what," he said, "In a second, I'll have you on that bed and it'll be you and me so fast…"

The anger boiled in her but so did something much more raw and powerful, something that made her body tremble in his embrace. Something much stronger than fear, or passion or any emotion she had ever known. Before he lay her on the bed, he kissed her hard on the mouth, moving his lips over hers, then down her neck where he took a hold of some tender skin inside his mouth and sucked it.

She didn't feel any pain, she just felt. She pushed and she struggled but his grip, it bruised her and she still wanted to kick his ass.

"In your dreams Houston…"

He dropped her on the bed then and stood above her, much taller and much stronger, his muscular build dwarfing the light.. She just lay on the bed out of breath, but if he thought…but Matt didn't look like he was thinking at all.

What she saw instead was a man of action, raw power that could strip a woman bare while not even touching her clothes. She sucked in her breath at the reality that he would show her all that power, the dominance of an alpha male towards its mate.

She felt a thrill penetrate the wall of defenses she had erected around herself, but no…hell no would she ever be dominated by any man let alone the one standing in front of her.

He crawled onto the bed and she thought about sliding backwards out of reach but he anticipated that and he grabbed her wrists in one hand and so much for that. Then that massive weight, all male stretched out on top of her body, before she could wiggle away. He braced his arms on either side of her even while still holding her wrists over her head and looked down at her.

Her chest fell and rose with each labored breath, damn she had just let her use his strength against her in a moment of weakness. His naked body pressing her to the mattress enough to make it dip and only her legs kept him at bay. His mouth brushed against her lips leisurely like he knew he had her. His kisses coaxed, nursing her mouth carefully.

"You really think you're going to be able to keep me out?"

She heard the raggedness in his voice and knew he wasn't just talking about her body.

"Let go of my wrists," he said, "You don't need to hold them."

"You sure you're not going to fight," he said, "I know why you're doing it but I've got you where I need you right now and where you need me too."

The deep timbre of his voice betrayed a softness and she felt her body wanting to relax and she wanted the pleasure he could give desperately.

"I don't want to be hurt."

He kissed her softly on the mouth and then looked down at her.

"I'm not going to do that," he said, "did someone do that to you?"

She bristled in his embrace.

"I can't. I don't want to hurt."

"It's part of being human on this good earth C.J.," he said, "Life's filled with all kind of pain along with pleasure but if you let me help you through the pain, I'll give you plenty of pleasure with it."

Her brow knit at his words. What the hell was he talking about as it was almost as if he knew? But she hadn't told anybody about it…not even the trip to the doctor when she thought she might be pregnant.

He looked into her eyes carefully just then, still being careful with his weight. Pressing hard enough to tell her that escape was futile but enough for her not to want it.

"Oh god, I don't know."

He seized her mouth just then to quiet her down and then she felt him nudge her thighs apart with his knee so he could slide between, his body wedged tightly in hers. Damn that felt so intimate, because she could feel both his roughness and smoothness. She could smell his damp musk and aftershave and she knew she could taste him.

Her knees nudged his hips and that felt strange, but being wide open, her pelvis where he could mold against it, oh god, she felt embarrassed, nervous and oh yeah, aroused beyond belief too.

"Oh yes you do now if you need to fight me to be okay with giving it up to me, then that's fine," he said, "because I know it's just for show."

She gritted her teeth as he maneuvered himself even closer, spreading her thighs wider to bring him closer to her. She forgot how much she needed to tell him to go to hell.

Instead she kissed him even more intensely on the mouth and she willingly opened her legs wider for him, and when she felt his ass flex with her knees, she closed her eyes.

When he moved against her, she felt as if even her soul was being stretched open, the tight walls she used to protect herself being nudged apart. She sucked her breath as he pushed further until…

"Oh god…it…"

"You need to relax…what are you expecting?…"

She felt the sharpness intensify and she tensed underneath him.

"Screw you Houston."

He smiled at her.

"Any time…any place …"

She fought to keep her eyes from stinging and she didn't know why. It wasn't physical but someplace else.

"Damn you're intense…I never would have guessed."

He kissed her then, lacing the inside of her mouth with his tongue as his body moved against her, slowly he withdrew and she felt the loss of him. She pulled him against her body not wanting to be separated.

"C.J., just relax, will you? I'm not going anywhere without you."

She blinked a tear out of her eye and when he caught that, he kissed her again, driving her towards dizziness from it. Then he kissed her so thoroughly she thought she'd pass out until he thrust hard enough to cause her to cry out.

"Oh god."

"That good huh?"

She blinked her eyes and this time, no tears. For a second she wanted to slap him but it passed.

"No,no I think…"

Yes, she started feeling the tension uncoil slowly inside from where her pussy held onto his cock so snugly. He stopped moving to give her a chance to get used to him, but he kept kissing at her, nipping her skin. She moved her hands, at some point he'd released them, sliding them over the slickness of his back and down to his ass which rippled beneath her hands when he made these slow, lazy and to her amazement, increasingly pleasurable movements against her.

Her hand wandered to where they were joined in ways she'd never even imagined possible. The friction inside of her built up deliciously slow, deliberate in reaching its mark.

"Oh C.J..."

It felt wonderful if unnerving to be physically connected to a man, let alone Matt. Their bodies were completely locked and she felt him pulsating inside of her. Her knees gripped his body and their sweat intermingled.

"I got to move okay but I promise you'll like it."

His body picked up in tempo, she felt that the warmth of the slide and the power gathering and then releasing beneath her hands.

He was about to unleash his power into her at last. God help her, especially because right now she didn't want to be helped.

She sucked in her breath and just cried out.

"Oh my…ohhhhh…."

He smiled as her cries turned to pleasure and just looked at her as her eyes searched his face.

"You want me to stop?"

She tried to shake her head, to gasp out the words no, she didn't want him to stop now that he'd started making her feel good. Ripples of pleasure permeating from deep inside of her.. The friction increased and he grabbed the back of her thighs and pulled her closer to him, encouraging her to wrap herself more tightly in his embrace.

She fumbled a bit because she had no idea what she did, or what rules she needed to follow with a guy like him, so she just tried to keep up.

"Come on ride with me," he urged her on.

"I don't…know…how…"

He kissed her on the mouth and showed her how earning her trust all over again.

"Houston don't stop."

"I can't but you need to hold on…hold on tight."

She gripped his shoulders this time and he plunged even more deeply than she thought possible because it wasn't just the act of him joining their bodies but something inside her felt him…as if he'd gotten closer to a part of herself she kept hidden from everyone.

The mattress springs squeaked but neither of them noticed, they took turns setting the tempo. The collision of their bodies, the scent of their musk in the air and the droplets of sweat on her face. Then she felt the buildup inside her threaten to overwhelm her.

Oh no, she couldn't take that. Each thrust pushed her closer until she flirted with the full power of the pleasure about to envelop her body. She felt some relief some reprieve in case it became too much for her.

"Oh god, your so sweet…"

She bit her lip to keep from crying out her release to try to push back the dam of elation that threatened to spill over.

"Just a little bit longer…"

At that point, the explosion that rocked her made her scream a cluster of words she'd soon forget. She grabbed him tight and couldn't let go. She felt her muscles quake, her legs weaken and she wanted so badly to arch her head back because she couldn't stand it.

Oh damn as the shockwaves he catalyzed drove through her. She sank on the bed, her legs still gripping him as they both felt the most pure of elation, the intensity rocking them to the parts of themselves they kept hidden.

Afterward, he rolled her gently over so she lay on top of him, embraced in the warmth of him. His arms firmly around her as she lay sprawled, their bodies drying together. She had no words, but plenty of emotions washing over her, with none of them dominating her attention. Her breath rasped harshly against his chest and she felt his own heart racing against her skin.

She had no energy to move or to do anything but just lie there in his arms. He started caressing her while she closed her eyes. Too wired to sleep but needing to process how she felt after what had happened.

"How you feeling," he asked finally.

"Mmm….better."

"That was really something…you okay?"

She did an inventory and yeah, she felt incredibly fine and sated.

"Why wouldn't I be? I'm not hurt if that's what you're wondering."

He gazed at her wondering so many things…realizing she had her own secrets.

"You look absolutely beautiful."

She never considered he might say that…he'd given her compliments before but not in this position.

"You don't look so bad yourself…you call all your women beautiful?"

"Nah, just the ones I win in poker matches."

That made her smile but then she wondered what he thought of her as a lover. She'd had her own fantasies but what about reality?

"How was I?"

He kissed her mouth, softly and then with more ardor before releasing her with a smile that slowly crossed his face.

"You were incredible when you got your ass on the bed."

She sighed, and he pulled her with him.

"What are you doing," she asked.

"I'm holding onto you," Matt said, "I've got you for the whole night."

She twisted in his arms, looking at him.

"I thought you wanted just a roll in the hay. That's what the game was about wasn't it?"

He licked his mouth, and she hoped it wasn't due to amusement.

"No I wanted you," he said, "I wanted to spend the night with you."

She took a deep breath, her heart still beating rapidly and her body still coming down from what they shared.

"I had no idea if I had known sooner…"

He kissed her lightly on the mouth, and she savored the pressure of his lips. She felt the anticipation build in her again.

"Nah it was perfect the way it turned out," he said, "and we do have the rest of the night."

"For what…?"

He just looked at her.

"Oh I still got a few things I got to show you."

She felt her skin prickle from his words because now that she'd gotten a taste, she wanted more from him…only next time she'd be holding the reins.

And if she needed to get her hands on some rope to do that, she'd go right ahead and show them her finesse in that area herself.


	10. Chapter 10

**Modern day**

"God I hate that bitch."

Slim poured C.J. a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. They had viewed the wreckage after Serena Gambacci had left the building. The two of them had walked in from the helipad to see the heiress preparing to exit after what must have been a passionate interlude with Matt.

He of course was sitting buck naked save his favorite cowboy hat in the hot tub. When he saw them, he ducked his head beneath the bubbling waters. Rather out of embarrassment or regret for giving in to Serena's song, they couldn't tell. Soon after he reached for his clothes and used them to shield certain vital bodily parts while he made his exit to the gym downstairs. Not before flashing the women a hint of his backside.

C.J. looked…of course she looked. How could she not? It didn't mean anything after all except that she had eyes and an appreciation for the male body.

But damn she hated Serena on sight. The typical spoiled rich princess who'd made her life miserable while she'd been growing up in Southern Texas. Growing up without parents and wearing hand me downs to school. The rich crowd had teased her over it until she'd punched Taffy the Queen bee of that hive in the face.

Serena never had that benefit and she would have had Matt by the nose ring if he'd been a prize bull. Damn she was so disappointed in him…for being a man.

"They must have gone at it on the sofa…after she walked in on him drinking Scotch," Slim said, eying the half empty bottle and glass on the bar.

"Guess they never made it downstairs…"

Down the winding staircase behind the waterfall where Matt stashed his love nest for the ladies. He'd said it would be a crash pad for those late nights he put in as a CEO of Houston Enterprises. Yeah right…when he hit the sheets after burning the midnight oil, it was hardly ever alone.

So he'd hooked up with Serena. C.J. didn't even want to imagine what that must have been like. A high maintenance girl like so many of the socialites who attracted Matt's attention. He knew how to please them in the sack…she knew that herself during that one night years ago. ]

Still none of them seemed to last long.

"He'll drop her," Slim said, "he's no more monogamous with women than with his fleet of cars."

"True…but seriously she's the number one suspect in her father's murder," C.J. said, "and she has the strongest motive, billions of dollars."

"She could buy a country with that dough…if there's one for sale."

C.J. snorted.

"Or an island…instead she's seducing Houston…not the world's toughest job."

Slim eyed her more closely.

"Sounds like you know."

C.J. bit her tongue. She didn't kiss and tell after all. She kept her affairs very private especially the short ones. It'd been a one nighter after all. A one-nighter and a potential complication. Still, years later she and Matt were best friends and business partners.

They'd made millions and built lives for themselves in the golden state…why mess all that up by hitting the sheets?

* * *

Matt and C.J. went to the party to scout out all the suspects. Professionally speaking, though when C.J. said she might start getting phone numbers, he got a little perturbed. The men all looked at her appreciatively as soon as she walked into the room. C.J. always did attract attention from the opposite sex.

He got hit on by Serena again but he'd rebuffed her accusing her of only impersonating a human being…but later on he'd hit the couch with her undone by her nubile body and her seductive tone. It'd been fun but when he woke up the next morning with a hangover he had no intentions of a repeat performance.

C.J. had fed him a raw egg in some of the hair that bit the dog in an attempt to get him back on his feet. He'd ordered that bucking bronco gizmo favored by urban cowboys and had it set up in his gym so he could get in some much needed practice time before winning back his money by taming Gut Buster…the ill-tempered gelding that had dropped him on his ass more times than he could count.

"Houston…you think you're any closer to figuring out who did it?"

He sighed after gulping down the concoction she'd whipped up for him and noticed she'd put in more than the usual dab of tabasco sauce.

Damn that packed a punch!

"I'm thinking everyone did it," he said, "Might just be a case of who drew their gun the fastest or who got there first. Gambacci wasn't a well-liked billionaire."

"I bet his daughter did it."

Matt winced.

"C.J. I just don't see Serena blowing him up from across the room," he said "More like she'd slit his throat in his sleep."

She chuckled.

"That's not charitable about a woman you just knocked boots with Houston."

He narrowed his eyes.

"I don't think I was wearing my boots."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Houston…well what about Karen Ann then?"

Matt sighed.

"He was blackmailing her," he said, "Threatening to blow her cover as America's sweetheart if she didn't do what he wanted."

C.J. went to pour herself a Scotch.

"You didn't…"

He frowned.

"No…she's a very lovely lady but this is just business…"

"Like Serena?"

He didn't respond to her bait wondering what had gotten into his associate. Sure she was feeling punchy after she'd fleeced him out of his money in the bronco wager and for getting more phone numbers at that wing ding than he did…but why was she hitting him so hard for his slip up with Hurricane Serena?

"Nah…I like Karen Ann…and I wish I could help her. But she's got motive to kill the man…like half of L.A."

C.J. paused.

"Well what about Wildcat Callahan?"

He heard how carefully she worded it because she knew the guy had saved his life. Matt must have had a reckless childhood with all the people he owed for saving his life from famous chefs to mercenaries.

"He's got motive too," Matt said, "There's something off about those champagne bottles only I can't put it all together."

She patted him on the shoulder.

"You will Houston…just keep at it."

She turned to leave the suite.

"Where you going C.J.?"

"Out…"

"Out where?"

"None of your damn business," she said, "I'll be there on time for Laurie's birthday party."

He nodded not really pleased but he still needed to go do some more homework for the party…and pick up that gift from his buddy Vince Novelli if it was needed.

C.J. and Slim sat on the railing while they all waited for Matt to try riding that crazy bronco again. They all bet that he couldn't stay on for 10 seconds…a sure thing as she saw it. She hated betting against her best friend but while he knew his way around a horse, his staying power…let's just say it worked better in other areas.

They both nursed a cold beer listening to city slicker Vince mumble about not knowing nothing about horses.

"Man it must have been real tough for him to find out the truth about Wildcat."

C.J. sipped from her long necked bottle.

"Real tough…he disappeared for a while afterward."

Slim nodded.

"Yeah he took his Porsche out for a drive and actually returned with it in one piece."

"Wildcat saved his life though," C.J. said, "when Laurie's real father took a shot at him again."

"What did he have against Houston anyway? It's not like he was the one who slipped her a mickey and then took blackmail photos."

"Yeah…but maybe fathers are protective about their daughters…like my daddy was before he died."

Her voice trailed off…not her favorite memory. But what she saw at the age of six, well no child should ever have to watch their father die.

"I guess so…"

They both turned to watch Matt come out chaps and all aboard Gut Buster who not only didn't buck him off he let him ride him around the correl.

"Damn it…," C.J. said, "I should have known…when he asked for double or nothing this time he had something up his sleeve."

Slim sighed.

"There goes my surfboard money," she said, "at least Cal's taking me out to some place real special. He wants me to move with him to Hawaii."

C.J.'s eyes widened.

"Wow…that serious…you just met him last week."

Slim shook her head.

"Last month…when you and Matt were buying up that hacienda in Baja…before some drug cartel blew it up."

"Tax write off…"

C.J. prepared to jump off the fence after a triumphant Matt relieved them of their money. Then the most amazing thing happened…Gut Buster remembered his rep and tossed Matt on his ass

The dust flew up when Matt landed as his friends all laughed at him. Life was back to normal after all.

"Hey C.J…"

She looked to see a rather battered Matt walk up to her.

"What is it Houston?"

"Say you wouldn't want to go out to get some barbecue about now."

She tilted her face.

"At Tex's Place?"

He nodded, brushing the dirt off his chaps. He'd always looked damn fine in them even back then. But…

"Sorry Houston…I'm heading off to Mama's. She's teaching me how to make pizza and I promised her I'd take her to a club afterwards."

"_Mama_ wants to go clubbing?"

C.J. laughed.

"Don't sound so amazed Houston…we do it at least once a week."

"I didn't know that…"

"There's a lot about me you don't know," she said, "I'll see you tomorrow morning bright and early about the new case…"

She walked away leaving a dusty cowboy in her wake.


	11. Chapter 11

C.J. held the frog in her hand, its legs dangling. Clearly the animal who just happened to be Matt's prize frog Rupert felt more relaxed than she did. She'd just piloted Matt's ex-girlfriend from college, Christina Berenson from the headquarters in L.A. to his ranch nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Listening to the gorgeous and very stylishly dressed model prattle on about being accused of murdering some big shot in the fashion industry with a poison dart, kind of like Cupid gone horribly bad. C.J. just knew she'd been another one of those young woman that Matt just had to keep rescuing over and over again.

Wait, she had a shiny bauble on her finger that attracted her attention, how could it not given its size? C.J. had never been engaged herself but she knew jewelry and that ring had to cost a bundle. After they landed, she and Matt just looked at each other and everything and everyone around them disappeared.

After hearing her story, Matt of course agreed to help her then and there and since the helicopter was a two seater that meant that C.J was left holding the frog.

Matt was ripe for another dalliance since he and Cindy McNichol, the vapid young blonde woman who'd been into auras and pyramids from another case were kaput. Greatly helped by the fact that her dog just never warmed up to him.

Slim had gotten married a couple months earlier to her surfer dude overlooking the beach in Santa Barbara and had moved to Hawaii. So that left her Rupert confide him as she went to return him back to his pond.

She'd have to drive to the office to work today and she didn't want to get caught in the traffic.

* * *

Christina sat on the couch while Matt fumbled around with Baby. The sophisticated computer system which had a direct line to every database on the planet loved C.J. and tolerated him. They were trying to check out any other suspects to the murder investigation that Vince launched against Christina under pressure by his boss.

She was dressed in some silk outfit from Paris and silver heels, not to mention she had fur stole wrapped around her even though it was a hot summer day. They'd already had the discussion about the bauble on her finger and how she'd been swept up in some whirlwind deal with a senator…who wasn't here helping her and she seemed to discuss almost casually though she'd called it the "real deal" an hour ago.

Damn it'd been sweet between them when they met up in college. He a star quarterback, she a cheerleader and sorority princess. He'd dated around at Rice University if it could be called that but she'd lasted longer than the others.

Then they'd hooked up six months ago for a time when she'd been living in Georgia and he'd spent three months at Fort Benning doing some consulting there. Even though they quickly fell back into the whole Rooster and Squeaky thing it hadn't lasted.

They were just two very different people but right now he had a tough time remembering that. Especially when she sidled up to him on the sofa speaking in that voice with a hint of breathlessness.

"Oh Rooster…seeing you again," she said, "It just brings back so many memories despite everything."

Matt couldn't deny that…he'd remembered how it'd been between them. He'd find out who'd framed her for murder, save her from a life in prison term and then maybe they could pick up where they'd left off year earlier.

Who knows? Maybe this time they could make it work. She could ditch the senator and get together with him, start something serious.

"Sure does…but first things first…"

She nodded but then she did something unexpected. She leaned over and kissed him, brushing her lips over his lightly.

Then moving back into her corner.

"Christina…"

"Squeaky…"

He cleared his throat.

"Squeaky…what was that?"

She smiled at him, flipping her hair back.

"You know what that was Rooster," she said, "There's more where that came from…"

"But…"

She fiddled with her engagement ring.

"He's back in Washington…and you and I are both here… and don't you remember how good it was between us?"

It had been sweet back then. He couldn't argue with that.

"You know I was the best you ever had too."

He furrowed his brow. He didn't know if he'd go that far. There'd been quite a few women after all in his life. Several who stood apart from the rest and one…

"You know it Rooster," she said, "Remember that time in Atlanta…"

Yes he did and the way their two month interlude had ended in a huge fight before she headed off to a modeling gig in London in a huff.

"Houston…did you hear from Vince?"

Matt looked up and saw C.J. sashaying in wearing one of her business suits. The three piecer which served as her uniform during days she tackled the legal side of the business.

He got up from the couch to go pour himself a glass of much needed Scotch.

"Yeah he's thinking it might be time to pay that psychic a visit," he said, "Last time I did that, it got freaky."

C.J. frowned.

"There's all kinds of freaky Houston. Which kind are you talking about?"

"I know that C.J. I'm talking about this mumbo jumbo magic act of hers."

C.J. laughed.

"You know that's just sleight of hand action," she said, "You should be an expert on that."

Ouch.

She was definitely throwing him some zingers this morning and he didn't know why…just like he didn't know why she begged off on those dinner dates and wouldn't tell him where she was going instead.

He wondered if she had a boyfriend she kept secret. He'd have to talk to her about that as soon as things got less busy with Christina.

"Houston…so be careful with the psychic okay? She might have a screw loose and well, I really don't want to run the business by myself."

"Don't you worry yourself darling…I've got this all under control…"

Christina frowned.

"Why are you calling her darling?"

He sipped his drink eying both women. Both brunettes, both in great shape and that's where their similarities ended.

"Just an expression. Look she's right. I'd better go find out what the psychic knows through her mystical powers or otherwise."

Christina sighed.

"If you must…but we're still on for dinner tonight right?"

He nodded and kissed her softly on the mouth. When he glanced up at C.J. she rolled her eyes and walked out of the room swaying her hips like she owned it.

* * *

C.J. ate lunch with Pam who'd wanted badly to leave the office to get some fresh air and sunlight. Matt had been dodging the secretaries again and they were quite irate about it. Even threatening to strike for one work day until someone could chain him to his vintage oak desk and get him to sign a whole stack of papers that needed to be flown overnight to Murray Chase back in Texas.

"So you think Christina's going to get a book contract out of this scandal?"

C.J. put down her fork and looked at her.

"Say what?"

"You know what I mean…she's a world famous model accused of killing a famous designer in an ingenious way and she might be innocent."

"She'd get a better deal if she were guilty…"

Pam paused.

"C.J. do you think she did it?"

She had to pause a long moment to think about it. Lord knows she had her suspicions. But then it'd taken some brains to put together this murder plot and Christina…she'd clearly gone into hiding after they passed out the good looks.

"I don't know…I hope not," she said, "Houston would be devastated. They were pretty serious back in college."

Pam shook her head.

"I don't know what he sees in her," she said, "So prim and proper and not a hair out of place. Houston's really into girls like that?"

C.J. shrugged.

"Yeah…he likes them pretty and needing his help," she said, "I'm not sure what he'd do with a woman who could take care of herself."

"So he's an alpha male?"

"An alpha _what_?"

Pam sighed.

"You know like in the romance novels," she said, "The men who like to take charge of everything including their women."

C.J. thought that described him to a T. In ways that she couldn't exactly share with Pam. She didn't kiss and tell after all.

* * *

Matt rode with Christina on a trail along a river that ran through his ranch. She'd saddled up one of his new fillies in the barn but opted for English style tack and wardrobe.

While he chose his worn jeans, worn hat and totally worn down boots and a Western saddle. He was all cowboy after all.

They'd just caught the real killer and sure enough, the psychic hadn't just predicted the murder, she'd committed it along with her henchman husband. Matt pulled the all-time bluff by pretending that one of her mind control tricks worked until he could get the upper hand on both of them.

He thought that once they got that out of the day, he'd romance her at Mama's restaurant and then they'd hit a night cap back at the house as a prelude to…

But then it hit him that they were two very different people…riding side by side and nothing had changed. If they got back together, it might work for a while but then they'd fight and break up again. Still there was one pivotal question to ask her.

"Do you like frogs?"

She wrinkled her nose at that.

"Oh god no, I hate them."

There, that did it that dealt the death blow to their relationship. Just like that, it was over. After he waxed a soliquy about his beloved Rupert and they rode off in separate directions. He back to the ranch to meet up with Bo and Lamar who wanted to double or nothing on the frog jumping match.

He'd asked Murray to get Rupert into prime shape even if it meant hiring a renowned frog whisperer. Instead, he found C.J. kicking back on the lawn in her faded jeans and chambray shirt. Her curly hair loose around her shoulders.

His best friend.

* * *

C.J. rigged the entire frog jumping contest for him. She'd gone out and gotten Rupert a lady frog named Hildegard, wrapped her up in a pink bow and used her to do as Bo said, "lure a critter on."

Both cried foul after Rupert broke the record for his leap and she declared him and Matt the winner. Still he looked put out and she knew that Christina and he weren't rekindling the old flame.

Then he made some comment about having to kiss a lot of frogs before meeting a prince. She thought he might laugh to show he felt better. Instead he laid one on her.

He kissed her softly on the mouth, a hint of so much more only he pulled away just as quickly. Before her mind had enough time to catch up to her body's reaction.

It reminded her so much of another time when it hadn't stopped there between them. Only so many years had passed since.

"Gribbit…"

His eyebrows waggled telling her it was all a joke. Damn him for pulling that fast one on her. She just got up and brushed the grass off her jeans.

"Where you going C.J. I thought we were going to do some barbecuing…"

She smiled at him.

"No Houston…I got plans," she said, "You all have fun."

"C.J…about that kiss…"

She winked at him.

"It's just a joke Houston. You know what I'm like when I'm getting serious."

She turned on her heel and headed away from him.


	12. Chapter 12

C.J. headed out to the shooting range to meet her new friend, Too Mean Malone a hulk of an ex-football player she'd met on an earlier case. He'd retired from the semi-pros with most of his body intact and had it in his mind he wanted to be a professional bodyguard.

Matt had helped set him up with offices space, licensing and all that while C.J. had gone with him to the shooting range at the LAPD Academy so both could sharpen that vital skill. Might need it to stay alive, she'd told him as they put in their ear plugs and checked their Glocks.

She'd kicked Randy out of bed after the two of them had been hot and heavy for a week since they'd met up at a jazz club. It became clear soon enough that it'd never be serious between the two of them and besides, he'd gotten a job at an ad agency back in Boston so he'd started packing up his studio apartment to move there.

"So Randy's leaving tomorrow…you think you can handle that?"

C.J. loaded up her Glock and glanced at him.

"Sure, look he's a fun guy but long distance relationships, they never work out."

Too Mean nodded, no arguing with that statement. Any ex-athlete worth his salt had tried to make it work at least once.

"Does Houston know about it?"

She aimed her gun straight at the chest level of the silhouette of a man yards away.

"No why should he? He's got his social life, I've got mine and I know he'd be grilling Randy on how to treat me…like I'm something fragile. I can get him on his ass in three moves."

Too Mean whistled.

"I don't doubt it but you know Houston's just looking out for you," he said, "like he would his sister if he had one."

Something akin to nausea hit C.J. at that point. There were certain details of her life she didn't share with Too Mean after all. But she got his point.

"So how's this case going," Too Mean asked after they shot a few rounds, "You need any help with it?"

She sighed.

"It's all crazy. Someone tried to poison Ramona Landers this famous actress by poisoning her drink on the set of her new movie…only her younger costar died instead. Her daughter Molly asked Houston to solve it…said she'd been talking to her twin brother in a dream."

Too Mean whistled.

"Sounds complicated," he said, "Who's your main suspect in this one?"

C.J. reloaded her gun.

"Houston thought it was Ramona's husband at first because that's what Molly said…or her twin brother but now he's not so sure. There's the usual roster of suspects, all with motives and most of them looking suspicious."

"So how's he going to sort them all out?"

"I'm helping him do that. When we were canvassing jewelry stores on Rodeo Drive, I ran into Jerry…and I'm having dinner with him tonight."

"He's an ex-boyfriend?"

"Not really…more like someone I met at a party and had some fun with," C.J. said, "He asked me about the green ducks and Houston almost threw a fit right there."

"Green ducks? Now I'm really confused."

She prepared to shoot at the next target.

"You had to be there," she said, "but it's really not as bad as it sounds. I just tease Houston about it. I never expected him to act this way."

"You mean jealous?"

She struggled with that word because it didn't seem to really fit well. Matt didn't get jealous of her, she'd been envious a time or two of him and how he separated his feelings from his interludes with women. She'd wish she were better at doing that with men but she was working at it.

"Like I don't deserve to have life away from the job," she said, "If he only knew…I have a whole 'nother life. Besides, Jerry he's…not…"

"Got it…"

They both continued shooting at their targets.

* * *

Matt's cheek smarted. Mama had just hauled off and smacked him in the face after he'd asked her about green ducks. It'd been driving him crazy since C.J. first mentioned him. First she's mauled by some guy named Jerry at the jewelry store and then when he casually dropped the line about the green ducks on her, it had caught his attention.

Because of course it had to be something naughty and the idea of his best friend with that word, well it brought back some steamy memories of the past.

But it was the past. They'd both moved on and were best friends and business partners out solving cases like the one involving the actress who'd sold him the ranch when he first arrived in L.A.

Now about those green ducks…but they'd have to wait because he knew that he had to find the killer after having discovered that Ramona's new husband was no longer a suspect but himself a victim near death at the hospital.

The doctors said he'd probably survive but that left Matt and the police including Vince in a quandary. If her husband the martial arts guy didn't do it, then who did?

Then something occurred to Matt. Something that might have been staring him in the face all along. What if Ramona hadn't been the killer's target? What if someone had intended to kill Todd Gallagher all along?

That meant more time working with Baby who kept asking why C.J. wasn't around. So he sat there and then in she poured herself a glass of juice.

"What's up Houston?"

She poured a glass for him and handed it to him before she sat down next to him.

"Now about those green ducks…"

"Give it a rest Houston…we've got a case to solve."

She'd been out to dinner at Mama's with Jerry and they were both enjoying their pasta plates. He was a funny guy even if they'd never get together. But she had known that Matt would be lurking in the bushes somewhere, maybe literally among the fake plants in the dining room.

After all, it wasn't a date, it was a setup to mine him for information about the jewelry. So at the right time, she nudged a glass of wine to spill into his lap, causing him to jump up quickly and going into the bathroom to clean up. After she apologized to him profusely of course.

"Psssst…"

That came from behind a trellis with plastic vines on it. Oh great…he wanted to grill her on her conversation with Jerry already.

"Houston is that you?"

She felt a bit silly talking to a fake plant on a trellis.

"Don't start on the ducks again or I'll…"

But he was all business.

"What did he tell you?"

"Just that Ramona's jewels…they're fake. It seems that Miles Gantry's been swapping them out making paste up copies of the real ones. You don't suppose he's ripping Ramona off?"

Matt sighed.

"I guess we'll have to find out won't we?"

She saw Jerry returning to the table, his good humor still intact.

"You can do that…Jerry promised to buy me dessert."

Matt grumbled as he disappeared into the fake shrubbery again.

* * *

C.J. found herself patching up her best friend yet again. This time from road rash being dragged by something moving faster than he did. He'd shrugged off his shirt, baring that magnificent chest that he boasted as a result of keeping himself beyond fit.

She ran her fingers over it, watching him flinch before he'd fire off a complaint about her killing him as she liberally applied more antiseptic on his reddened skin.

"You're torturing me with that battery acid."

Hardly…okay she'd rather be slathering his body with massage oil and rubbing it deeply in those muscles, brushing her fingers first in promise.

Or warning, because sometimes she didn't know how he'd take a turn down memory lane. She didn't know how she'd handle it either…like coming close to a burning flame or a better comparison…a blow torch.

"Houston stop being a baby."

"I'm not…"

Like most men he didn't like being coddled but damn him if it got infected sending him to the hospital and leaving her to handle the caseload. Matt was as tough as they came but he never liked sitting still when he'd gotten hurt. He was on the "watch" list of every trauma center in Southern California.

"I guess Molly can rest easy now and figure out a way to get along with her stepfather," Matt said, "He….ouch…isn't all that…ouch bad…"

"No he's not but I can understand that she might worry that he's replacing her own father," C.J. said, "After all Ramona did remarry pretty quickly after his death."

"My daddy never remarried after my mama died. Didn't even a girlfriend…just put it all into his business and raising me."

She softened the movement of her hands over his side as she finished cleaning his latest injury. The contours of his hardened body felt subtle in some areas not as much in others.

"My mother didn't live long enough to mourn my father. I didn't have time to think about either. Nothing like being a ward of the state and its priorities."

She tried to keep the edge out of her voice but it'd been tough…at least until she'd moved into the ranch close to his daddy's.

"Feels better?"

He nodded.

"It's just a surface wound," she said, "needed to be cleaned up so you can go out and do it all over again."

He chuckled.

"How about you? You got any wounds surface or otherwise that need tending?"

She didn't respond right away. God, what a loaded question. Always better to play it safe even with him.

"No…you handled all the leg action in this case," she said, "I didn't even break a nail."

He nodded seemingly satisfied with her answer. She packed up her first aid kit and got up. He watched her go put it in the cabinet.

"Where you going?"

She glanced at him.

"I got plans tonight…"

"Like what?"

She put a hand on her hip.

"That's for me to know Houston," she said, "I'll see you tomorrow."


	13. Chapter 13

C.J. had needed a vacation after they had closed the book on the case involving the murder of a food critic. The same one who partnered with the insufferable J. Hamilton Goodfellow, more popularly known on his famed television show as "Goody".

She just referred to him as "Creepy" mostly to Pam and the other secretaries working for Houston Enterprises in its Century City offices. The egomaniac had literally taken over every inch of the penthouse suite and bossed everyone around as if they were production assistants.

Fortunately she and Matt solved that case pretty quickly and were written up in the food columns of the newspaper detailing their success.

Time to move on to the latest case involving a pretty young girl in a bikini named Sue, but she was a lifeguard in Malibu and had to deal with more than the usual hazards of the job. Her mother had hit up Matt after a couple of the lifeguards had died not from drowning or being pulled out to see by some nefarious riptide which was common off the coast.

They'd been attacked and killed by sharks or a shark. Now that was hard to believe. C.J. asked her Baby how many shark attacks there'd been and discovered they were quite rare…a once in a lifetime event in the Santa Monica Harbor though many swam there.

Yet three women had died already, in gruesome attacks where their last few moments were surely spent in terror.

So naturally Matt decided he had to help Sue so he got a job working as a lifeguard which meant he'd spend his days dressed up in a swimsuit and keeping the swimmers safe. He'd also had his eye on picking up a beach house in Malibu and kept his eyes open.

Pam walked in while C.J. got up from chatting with Baby to get herself some coffee.

"So how's the lifeguard job going?"

C.J. put a touch of cream in her coffee and a dash of sugar. Pam went to make herself a latte from a new designer coffee machine Matt purchase to make peace with his secretarial pool.

"Houston saved a woman's dog yesterday," she said, "and three women asked him for his number but still no signs of our shark."

Pam sighed.

"I bet he looks hot in his speedos."

C.J. arched a brow.

"It's the rock climbing," a man's voice said, "That and his life spent working on the ranch."

Both women turned around to see a harried looking Murray Chase breeze in the room heading straight to whip himself up an espresso. He looked at C.J. with a critical eye.

"You're not on vacation?"

C.J. shook her head.

"Not if I'm here Murray," she said, "I had to cancel my tickets to Acapulco when Houston got the visit from Sue's mama."

Murray nodded.

"Just as well…I've got a pile of legal contracts for you to review, remark on and sign off by noon today," he said, "You'd better get busy."

She put a hand up.

"Murray, just let me finish my coffee first and then I'll hit it."

The CPA nodded again, grabbed his coffee and left the women alone. Pam rolled her eyes.

"God, he really needs to get out more often," she said, "Becca's been trying to set him up with her sister who's just out of the convent."

Meaning she might not be that picky.

"He's more into his begonias than anything else."

After all, Murray was the president of the Begonias Appreciation Club and faithfully attended the weekly meetings.

C.J. looked at her watch.

"I've got to meet Houston for a party," she said, "We're supposed to canvass the suspects, all of which were invited to attend."

Pam sighed.

"Sounds fun…got anything to wear?"

C.J. nodded.

"Got a lot of sexy dresses but Houston wants me to wear something with shoulder pads."

Both women groaned at his dress code. C.J. kept thinking how right now she could be on the balcony of a timeshare villa looking out over the incredibly blue ocean sipping on a margarita. She'd planned to ask Jerry to go with her…as a friend. His long-time lover had just left him to take a gig in Europe.

"Have fun…the secretaries and I will live vicariously through you as usual."

C.J. just laughed as she left to go to her office.

If they only knew!

* * *

Matt sat in his chair watching the ocean but it hadn't filled with swimmers yet. The shark had yet to make an appearance though they'd had a scare yesterday with Sue just barely making it to shore alive. He'd been so sure the shark would take a big piece out of him but it hadn't happened.

He'd been good enough to be a champion style swimmer in the open ocean having competed in triathlons between cases.

Sue had clung to him after it was over. He realized on his first day at work that she had a crush on him. She'd practically throw herself at him, dressed up in a skimpy bikini lying out on the beach on her day off.

He'd been tempted, he was a guy after all but she was too young for him. He'd known her since she was a little girl because her mama had been a friend of his family.

"Matt…you're so hot looking," she said, "I never noticed how much before…I'd been throwing myself at mere boys."

He tried to extricate himself from her enthusiastic embrace.

"Sue…I'm flattered but I'm a bit…"

She smiled.

"Oh Matt…it'd be good between us really and at least my mom likes you."

He felt pretty sure that her mama would come after him with a spear gun if he even touched her daughter. He had no plans…too young and besides he had his sights on Felicia, one of the other life guards who was a stunning blonde.

"She won't like me for long if we…"

She beamed at him.

"Did it with each other," she said, "It's just sex Matt, that's all."

He frowned at her, taken aback by her casual attitude.

"Sue I don't think…"

"Then don't…I've got a birthday coming up and I want to make it extra special."

She trailed a finger down his arm and he nearly jumped out of shock. Not that he hadn't been with a lot of women…he liked to have fun but he'd remembered when Sue had been in Junior High with braces, a school uniform jumper and bobby socks.

"You mean the bonfire and clam bake tomorrow night?"

She tilted her face eying him.

"I mean after all that when we can be alone together."

No, he had no plans to be alone with her. Felicia, maybe. She'd given him her cell number to give her a call…women were more forward these days.

"I don't think so Sue," he said, "You and your mama mean the world to me and I don't think she'd be real happy."

She scowled.

"She's always trying to run my life."

"She just cares about you," he said, "Three lifeguards are dead and she just wants you to be safe. Part of being a mama."

He knew his explanation didn't satisfy her. The girl wanted to jump his bones but though he might be called a player, there were some lines he didn't cross.

Sue would have to find her boyfriend elsewhere.

* * *

C.J. cruised the party and struck out with the book author. She'd hit on him trying to rock what clothes she had to work with because he'd happen to author a book that had a plot that closely matched the killings of the lifeguards.

Specially trained sharks put to work as assassins. How could anyone do such a thing in reality which seemed like science fiction? Matt still had no idea on how that it was done even after interviewing the folks working at the nearby aquarium which just happened to house some dangerous sharks.

She should have worn that off the rack summer dress she'd bought, the one that cut low in front and rode up high above her knees. How on earth was she going to hit the holy grail of this case dressed up so frumpy at a beach party?

The author got upset with her when she started hitting him with the pointed questions. Was he trying to hide something? Perhaps but maybe not a murder plot.

Matt walked on over.

"Find anything out yet?"

She picked up her wine glass and sipped from it.

"Yeah that famous authors are very sensitive about their craft."

Matt frowned.

"You mean the fellow who wrote a book detailing the killings?"

"Something like that."

"You going out with him?"

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Houston that's my business…but no he's not my type and I think this tacky outfit fended him off."

He smiled.

"I think you look great…look I'm going to find that model…"

"You mean Glenda Collins? You think she's involved or a future target."

He sighed.

"Not sure yet…I'll let you know later."

C.J. smiled.

"She's wanting to get you between those satin sheets of hers but be careful Houston…"

He pursed his lips.

"You worried about me…and her?"

She shook her head.

"No…just don't want you dead so I have to run the firm by myself."

"Ah…no need to worry about that darling…I'm going to solve this case in no time."

She watched him walk off shaking her head before getting her wine glass refilled. She figured she had another hour before she had to meet up with Too Mean for another sparring session.

Time to knock that ex-football star on his ass to get back for the last time.

* * *

Matt ran into Gloria only she'd been in danger…someone had been targeting her for death apparently not waiting for a killer shark to take her out.

This case was growing more complex by the hour…as he'd felt that if he didn't act quickly enough at the right time, another cheerleader would die

He'd be skinned alive if that were Sue, not that he'd forgive himself either. But that's what made the clam bake such an excellent opportunity to put the suspects and prospective victims together in one place and to hope the killer would reveal his or herself.

Sue had been excited that he would attend her birthday party even after he told her he'd never sleep with her.

Felicia had returned his phone call and she'd be at the party too. They might leave afterward for drinks at the new bar that opened up just off the beach.

C.J. showed up dressed casual, in a flannel top and some sweats, wearing docksiders. She chatted up Brad one of the senior lifeguards and whatever he said back had her laughing. Damn he loved hearing that laugh…one of his favorite but not the most favorite things about his best friend. She glanced his way and smiled at him but then her eyes were on Brad.

She had that way of paying attention to a guy like he was the only one in the room. She'd definitely been that way on that summer night years ago…his face flushed with heat and other body parts…he had to start thinking about something else like the carburetor he needed Slim to fix on his favorite Porsche.

The food proved delicious. There were plenty of burgers along with the clams and he wound up sitting next to C.J. during the bonfire when Sue opened up her presents.

The most impressive one came from a box with an unmarked card. A beautiful medallion to wear around her neck to keep her safe from danger. She seemed to be very taken from it and kept smiling at him for reasons he didn't understand.

It wasn't his gift after all. He'd given her a copy of the care and feeding of Tetra fish knowing that she favored them.

"That was a nice gift Houston…"

He smiled back at C.J. who looked totally relaxed, her hair blowing freely in the soft ocean breeze.

"That medallion is impressive," he said, "Wonder who sent it."

She frowned.

"Maybe you'd better have it examined," she said, "I remember from the autopsy photos Baby showed us that the other three wore one just like it when they were attacked."

"Good point…"

He got up to do just that. Sue agreed willingly and he pocketed it to send to the lab of a marine expert he had dated when he first came to L.A.

C.J. smiled at him when he sat back down. He'd been flirting with her earlier not sure why but she looked like she was up for it. Careful though, they had a finely drawn line in the sand when it came to their friendship. She didn't want to be one of his sleepover buddies and he kept his own ideas about what to do in a tightly closed box.

She was dangerous in her own way and he stuck to women he could handle.

"So you got plans for later on?"

She looked over at him.

"I might sit back on the back patio and read a good book," she said, "It's a gorgeous night Houston."

"It sure is…"

"What about you? I know you've been wanting to get it on with Felicia."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Getting it on? We're going for drinks," he said, "We might head to hers or my place afterwards."

She put her hands up.

"Hey, I'm happy that you're back in circulation after Christina," she said, "and you let down Sue gently enough."

"Her mama would have had my hide and my daddy would have joined right in."

C.J chuckled.

"Your daddy's been wanting a grandchild since you hit 25," she said, "Just mentioned it the other day."

Matt sighed. His daddy wanted an heir to carry on the family line. The much heralded Houston genes, sometimes his heritage felt more like a burden than a gift. He loved his daddy who'd raised him without his mama but he had to make his own way in life.

He nursed a fresh beer bottle.

"Got his own ideas who I should be with," he said, "Stubborn old man."

She arched a brow.

"You could still get back with Christina."

He looked at her pointedly.

"It's not Christina…I'm not saying who."

She shrugged reaching for her own beer.

"It doesn't matter anyway. You always do what you want to do. Part of being your own man and I get that. He just loves you though."

Matt bristled a little out of habit. If the woman sitting next to him only knew… Craziness though she was his best friend after all.

"You're not a bad catch Houston…you're a good man who's worked hard to build something of your own. You're not bad to look at especially in chaps and god knows what you're like in the sack."

She said that so casually it threw him off.

"I seem to remember a lady who wasn't too bad herself."

She winked at him.

"I wasn't a lady Houston…"

A flash of heat hit him then as he remembered…but he cooled it off with a sip of beer.

That's when the melee started and all hell broke loose.

* * *

C.J. kicked back on the back porch of Matt's cabin up in Pinewood. She'd finally gotten a vacation of sorts. Okay, not too weeks in Acapulco but a long weekend up in the mountains near a lake teeming with trout.

Pam had gone with her and the two spent days hiking and fishing and evenings like this one drinking tequila and roasting marshmallows to make those 'smores. Tonight it was something more tame, white wine and some cookies from Pam's family recipe.

"So Houston sure recovered fast from nearly getting speared to death?"

C.J. nodded.

"Not to mention the shark…Scott Neville's going away for a long time for that stunt. He could have made millions selling that technology for the common good. Instead he used it as a tool for murdering women."

"There should be a special prison for men who hurt women."

C.J. agreed with that but then some men who hurt women never saw the inside of a courtroom let alone a jail cell.

"He and Felicia hit it off good?"

C.J. laughed.

"She got back with her ex-boyfriend, a lifeguard from Huntington Beach during the Lifeguard Games. Matt won the gold medal in the ocean swim but Dave Hurt got the girl."

Pam took another sip.

"Houston will bounce back. I wouldn't mind a night or two with him."

C.J. smiled.

"He's definitely something you don't forget."

Pam's eyes widened.

"Oh do tell…"

C.J. leaned back in her chair.

"I don't much that…but he does know how to treat a woman."

Pam looked like she wanted more details but that's all C.J. would say about it.

* * *

Matt sighed as he sailed out on his boat across the harbor. He'd been out scouting houses for sale in Malibu for one to pick up. He thought about the long commute to the office from his ranch and thought if he'd stay someplace else during the week, it'd be easier both on his professional and social lives.

It's not like he didn't have the money.

The ocean looked smooth as glass today, the reports of shark attacks and chewed up lifeguards now fading into memory…part of the rich lore of L.A.'s coastline. He'd ditched his workload at the office to take a day off to sail on his boat, relax a bit.

C.J. and Pam were up in his cabin probably doing a lot of fishing and reading. They both needed the time off and he needed to quell a rebellion at the office. Murray understood but only after he'd gotten hot and heavy with a socialite who'd seduced him right on the beach, sending his accounting files everywhere.

He thought about his best friend as he looked out over the ocean remembering what his father told him. Wondering if his old man knew him better than he thought…but not knowing how to change it.


	14. Chapter 14

C.J. woke up from the most bizarre nightmare.

She'd been trapped in a maze wandering around until someone zapped her unconscious then she was encased in glass. It was all part of an elaborate fantasy that it would take Freud's best efforts to decipher.

Matt had been out there somewhere yelling her name, saying he'd come to rescue her again. She yelled back to leave a voice trail that would help lead him to her.

Suddenly, she saw him in front of her and then behind him…no it couldn't be…and then a loud bang and he fell on the ground shrouded in a layer of mist.

She woke up with a start in the safety of her own bed. God, what a dream that had been! Where on earth…then she remembered a case the two of them had solved centering on Joey's World, a proposed amusement park concocted by some nerdy genius named John Gordon Boyd.

Some grown men had children. Others held onto their youth and created surrogates like John did with his robot all named "Joey". Tinker Bell had nothing on him, she'd told Matt after talking to the genius and she hadn't been kidding.

That case had been solved and filed away. Murray Chase nearly wound up committing himself into a mental institution after getting the itemized bill for PI services but that had all been a joke. In fact, last night she and Matt had been eating Texas barbecue with Cattle Annie, the salty doctor who had delivered Matt as a baby at the side of the road. They'd eaten spare ribs and drank beer until after midnight talking and laughing.

C.J. thought maybe the signature barbecue sauce influenced her dreams…but then again, it could be the fact that she'd broken up with Clint. She'd met him at the charity fundraiser that was disrupted by gunfire

She looked at her clock and saw it was 3 a.m. Damn, she had to get to sleep because she was attending a party on a yacht around noon. It was moored at the exclusive marina in Newport Beach and it was all about Matt going to impress one of his earliest cases of puppy love when he'd been a teenager.

Honey Lewis was her name and she'd rocked Matt's world babysitting him and she'd been all he could think about even though she was five years older than him. He hadn't even known she moved from Houston to L.A. until he received an invite from her out of the blue to drop by the yacht party.

She'd mentioned someone to Matt by the name of Rosson Harmon IV or "The Commodore" as he was known by his crowd.

C.J. agreed to tag along with Matt because he needed a date to go check out his schoolboy crush. She hadn't known Honey personally. She'd just seen her around briefly until she graduated from high school and went off to college.

Honey had been gorgeous with flowing hair, the color of honey and the bluest eyes, the way Matt had described her. She'd been as gorgeous as the pinups he'd had in his room in high school. He'd been so excited to hook up with her again, he'd talked nonstop about it the past two days.

Almost as if he were back to being 13 again.

So a few hours of sleep later, she'd gotten dressed up casual style whereas Matt had dressed up like a maritime officer complete with a hat. He'd put it on and asked her what she thought…that was after asking her, the secretaries and just about everyone else how he looked.

God, he had it bad for this woman.

He hadn't grown into himself and what he'd be as an adult when he knew her.

"C.J…we almost there yet?"

She sighed.

"Yes Houston…two miles further than the last time he'd asked. This behavior was just so unlike him, she hoped it was a passing phase.

"I haven't seen her in years but she was as beautiful as any movie star."

She kept driving as he rhapsodized about all things Honey.

* * *

Matt hoped that she would remember him. But not enough to overwhelm what he had become. A ruggedly fit adult man who harbored little of the awkwardly lanky boy that had followed her around like a puppy dog one wonderful summer of his life.

They'd never even kissed, except when she gave him a peck on the cheek. But he'd wondered what it'd be like. She'd made life a lot more interesting when he'd hit puberty.

C.J. and he parked the car and got out to go mingle with the guests, a motley crew of members of that exclusive yacht club. Honey saw him and rushed over to embrace him right away, cloaking him with that lilac perfume she loved to wear.

"Oh Matlock…you've grown into such a…man," she said, "If I had known you'd turn out this way, I'd spent much more time with you."

He felt his cheeks flushed. Not much fazed him let alone the attentions of a beautiful woman but he felt like he was 13 all over again for a moment.

The Commodore was holding court and not being very nice to Honey, he noticed and a younger man dressed in a uniform looking like the bar tender was foul mouthed and spouting off a bunch of nonsense.

Matt and the Commodore tangled almost from the getgo and the party only went downhill from there.

After they carted away the Commodore's body in a bag, Lt Vince Novilli turned his attentions towards the man who far too often showed up at crime scenes.

"Houston…is it just me or do you have some internal radar for trouble?"

Matt sighed.

"Vince, I was just here to see Honey who I haven't seen in years," he said, "I had no idea anything like this would happen."

"A commonly heard excuse or alibi…not sure which but I have to tell you. Ms Lewis is the primary suspect for Harmon IV's murder. We'd take her in but since you know her…just tell her not to leave L.A. without telling us."

Matt nodded, knowing Vince had protocol to follow. But he knew that Honey was innocent. She was as sweet as her name and still so pretty. She'd never hurt a fly.

"I'll keep an eye on her Vince," he said, "I'm taking the case."

"You really had a thing for her…back in the day?"

Matt heard a hint of humor in the man's voice.

"She used to babysit me even when I didn't really need one."

Vince shook his head.

"I don't know where you get it," he said, "this magnetism for beautiful women with sketchy motives."

Matt glanced over at Honey who was talking with C.J.

"She's innocent Vince and I'll prove it to you," he said, "C.J. and I, we're going to find the real killer."

* * *

C.J. poured herself a glass of Scotch. Being early afternoon, she felt like she needed it. Already. Matt had just come in the office nursing more torn clothing and bruises after someone tried to take him out. He'd been out to interview the belligerent Jeb who'd spouted off some man of the people, and taking down the evil capitalist type rhetoric.

Matt had taken leave of him after not learning too much about how a poisonous snake from Africa got inside the sleeve of The Commodore's coat. Then someone tried to kill him, then chase him and he wound up literally in the laps of two voluptuous women in swimsuits. All they wanted was for someone to put some suntan lotion on their bodies.

Most men would have done it and Matt had just the right hands for the job. After all, he definitely knew his way around a bottle of scented massage oil but his drive to clear his teenaged crush from murder charges pushed him onward.

Pam brought in some Thai takeout and both women dug into it. Murray had left the office to board a jet to Taiwan so the secretarial pool had kicked back a bit this afternoon. Even forgiving Matt for not signing the usual pile of documents.

"He really has a thing for her doesn't he?"

C.J. ate some of the curried chicken, thinking about it. Matt loved women, period. He loved them in the sack and taking them to events but he didn't stay with any one of them for very long. It didn't take much for him to decide to move on to the next one. But Honey…she'd been special because he still reminisced on her years later and he hadn't slept with her.

"Maybe that's it…maybe he's just into her because she's not one of his ex-lovers."

C.J. pondered Pam's theory but didn't want to think about it too hard. Yeah, Matt had a way of moving on from one lover to the next.

Some of them…okay maybe one remained his close friend.

"Maybe…and when this is all over…if she's innocent of course…"

Pam went for more of the rice.

"She has to be…he would never fall for a murderess."

Not so far, anyway. Though Christina had been suspected of murder, Serena had been suspected of murder and Cindy McNichol had been accused of murder…the three wives of the cat food king had been and all three made plays for him…

Was a pattern developing here?

"I think Honey's innocent," C.J. said, "and I think maybe when this is over I'll set up a romantic setting for both of them to decide whether or not to get it on…Mama can help me. I'm sure she'll be thrilled."

Pam's jaw dropped.

"You mean you want them together?"

C.J. nodded.

"Yeah…why not? Whatever it takes to make him happy…I'll do it before I head to the Hollywood Bowl with Carl."

"Carl…is he the…?"

C.J. smiled.

"He was in the MBA program at Harvard and I had myself too buried in books to fully appreciate him," she said, "but he's back in town for a convention and we're getting together."

"You…and he?"

C.J. looked down at her box.

"I went shopping at the Pleasure Boutique," she said, "I wanted to surprise him."

Pam smiled.

"Sounds romantic…why don't I help you set up this date for Houston? My cousin Chris teases me over it, but I'm pretty good at matchmaking."

* * *

Matt breathed a sigh of relief at the news that Binky Brabworth would never walk the streets again. He hadn't seen it coming until the very end because the mild mannered man had been framing Jeb for the murderous acts. But Matt and C.J. had deduced that Jeb, being a communist wouldn't make a reference to angles, avenging or otherwise if he decided to threaten someone. Honey had claimed that she was the murderer to protect her son…who as it turned out had been kin to The Commodore which made Matt's stomach turn a bit.

Still, he was excited when he received a nicely styled invite for a romantic dinner at Mama's. Honey had sent it of course and he dressed up in his best suit to meet her there…feeling like he had when he'd been besotting with her.

He'd pick her up some nice flowers, yellow roses which were her favorite. Make sure there was a bottle of champagne waiting. He knew how to turn out all the stops to woo a woman, much much better than when he'd been younger. She'd pick that up pretty quick.

After arriving at Mama's, he discovered that Honey had arrived, stylishly dressed and wearing that lilac perfume. She looked just as puzzled as he, having received an invite she believed to be from him.

Then they both discovered the culprit. C.J. who stood with Mama, a hand on her hip looking amused. She was dressed in faded denim jeans and a nice looking blazer over her blouse.

"Where are you off to C.J.?"

"On a date…just like you," she said, "You remember Chris…he's in town for the weekend."

Matt remembered the studious young man who had played quarterback just like him in college, but instead of going into the pros, he'd picked business school.

"Have a good time you too," she said, "This one's on me…."

"C.J…"

She smiled at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow…to catch up though I might be in a little late."

He shook his head.

"Take the day off…I'll let Murray do the catching up for both of us, okay?"

She winked at him.

"Deal…"

Then she walked away leaving the couple alone. Matt just stood there for a moment, feeling totally amazed by his best friend once again.


	15. Chapter 15

Matt's birthday party started out as a small affair.

Just a barbecue for friends and family, opening presents after kicking back and enjoying some great food and Lamar's harmonica playing. He'd just returned from jetting to London to sign a business deal which brought a couple of clothing lines under the umbrella of his corporation.

She'd bought her best friend a special gift…but she didn't know how he'd take it…or whether he'd accept it.

Clover hadn't been seen much after the two of the had gone hot and heavy after he solved a slew of murders at the infamous party in the penthouse suite, the script of which was ripped out of the pages of a famed mystery writer. She'd walked in on them kissing on the chaise before she left to go take off to Monaco for a charity event and she hadn't known that they'd gone their separate ways until later.

Bo and Lamar turned up squirrely as ever…wanting to turn Matt's spa into a huge martini complete with olives but he'd stirred them out onto the helipad.

"Can't we open presents now, can't we," Bo pleaded once again, "I want to see what you got."

Matt shook his head.

"Got to wait until the guests arrived," he said, "and we get some food in them."

Bo just sank looking dejected and C.J. almost laughed. But she felt on edge…because of her own gift. Mama showed up then with a special dish from her restaurant, a type of ravioli that used chili.

"You don't look a year older," she said hugging Matt, "This is the year we find you a wife so you can start having little Houstons running around."

C.J. bit back a chuckle, just imagining that. He'd have to find a woman who would keep pace with his lifestyle and with a hell of a lot of patience. Conceiving the kids would be a hell of a lot of fun with a guy like him but Matt didn't seem quite ready to raise them…though he adored Vince's kids.

She walked up to him.

"Bo's like a kid at Christmas," she said, "He's been like that all morning. He's not going to give you any rest."

Matt paused and thought about it, looking back at the pile of colorfully wrapped packages.

"Okay…maybe just one," he said, "After all that's what my daddy used to let me do…open one and save the rest of later."

He turned to give Bo the good news and the ranch hand picked one out and ripped off the wrapping and ribbons like a little boy.

What he pulled out was called a jackantalope which he looked at perplexed. Nothing happened at first.

Then the whole world exploded.

* * *

Matt paced at the hospital, Wilshire Memorial which was one of his least favorite places. He'd been there as a patient with some injury or another and to visit friends. But damn he was frustrated right now watching a medical team trying to save the life of an old friend.

Bo and Lamar had practically raised him and kept him out of more trouble than he could count. Now his friend might wind up dead from his birthday party. His ears rung and part of him remained suspended in shock but the rest of him worked furiously to figure out who had just tried to kill him.

The explosion had been no accident, it'd been a bomb and he'd seen traces of wiring and what might have been an ignition switch in the debris that plastered the wall above where his birthday cake sat on a table.

The list of people who wanted to take him out permanently, it couldn't be narrowed down quickly. It had to be done later methodically at his office in front of Baby with C.J. helping him. She'd been on the phone calling Matt's daddy back in Houston…but not Lamar who had gone back to help during foaling season.

He'd just want to fly out and there was nothing he could do for Bo.

The doctors hadn't been too optimistic about Bo's chances of surviving but they were doing all they could for him.

C.J. suggested getting some coffee during the long wait and he headed towards the machine until his eye caught the newspaper rack.

Front page story above the fold, a man's face leaped out at him. Then fury followed quickly on its tracks. The man was a renowned hetmans who had a grudge against Matt and he'd just escaped from prison two days earlier.

Already the pieces were trying to fit together.

"Damn it Vince, he's the one who did it," he said, "I'm going to go track him down."

The lieutenant blocked his path.

"You don't know that for sure Houston…let us do our job."

Matt ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"If someone at the prison had done that, he wouldn't be running around free trying to kill people."

Nothing Vince could do but agree with him. Still he said, apprehending an armed and extremely dangerous professional killer was a job for law enforcement not PIs for hire. He didn't want to waste any more time. He had to sit in front of Baby and get her to spill her secrets that would lead to whoever tried to kill him.

For that he needed C.J.

He screamed her name and it echoed through the halls of the hospital. He hadn't meant to be so harsh but the fear that threatened to consume him competed with the rage that sent his heart beating nearly hard enough to explode out of his chest.

* * *

C.J. cringed when he screamed her name but she got it. Someone had just attacked her friend on his home court and it'd done its job at terrorizing him.

At least in the short term. Soon enough, all his training including in the military and as an investigator would kick in and he'd turn stone cold methodical until he tracked down the want to be killer and brought him down.

A lot of the time Matt seemed low keyed and laid back but it'd be a huge mistake to ever underestimate him.

Like right now. She knew she'd help him whatever it took so they headed back to query Baby on the hit man who'd just released himself from prison.

Baby acquiesced and Matt got what he needed to start with and she saw the look on his face when he got up to leave.

It scared her. She knew that he'd stop at nothing to find the killer and who hired him. The man had a grudge against him but something didn't add up. Because it hadn't been one killer who'd left prison early, it'd been three of them.

Around the same time period.

Matt knew what he had to do and she knew it too. But she didn't want him to leave without telling him.

"You be careful…you be real careful…"

He kissed her softly on the mouth, caressing her face like a best friend. She watched him head toward the elevator.

Pam watched him go and then walked up to her.

"What's going on with him," she said, "I just heard about Bo."

C.J. folded her arms around herself.

"He's going off to track the man responsible," she said, "He thinks it's a man from his past that he put in prison."

Pam poured herself some coffee.

"I really am glad to be just a member of the secretarial pool," she said, "fighting with the others to get him to sign documents and then talk about him at the water cooler."

C.J. rubbed her eyes.

"It must be tougher to be you," Pam said, "to deal with this side of his business when it comes after you. You do a lot of good but what about the cost?"

C.J. felt that part of it.

"Houston's paid a high cost already," she said, "That's why he does it."

"What about you C.J.? What do you get out of it?"

C.J. paused.

"I'd paid a price too…"

She didn't get into the hows or whys. There were parts of her life she shared with no one, she was intent on forgetting them.

* * *

Matt had a busy couple of days dealing with the trio of hit men who came after him. One of them, Dirk Bronson had tried and failed to kill him.

By then he'd beaten up a few men and smashed some furniture to find out that Bronson and the others were hired by one powerful and wealthy man who greased their escapes from prisons if they'd do the hit.

Bronson had put together the bomb that nearly took out Bo.

But he hadn't done it on his own even though he said he'd do it for free. Of all the people he thought might come after him, this man hadn't been at the top of his list.

Castanos.

A genius who parlayed that into billions of dollars as part of a construction empire with projects all over the world ranging from amusement parks to summer resorts to zoos. Most of them relating to recreational pursuits, all of them playgrounds to his homicidal streak. Matt had chased him all over Europe and into North America, following a trail of carved up bodies of women who'd crossed paths with the ultimate serial killer.

He caught up with his a couple times but Castanos eluded him until he'd been shot multiple times in what should have been a bloodbath. Instead he survived and after recovering, he would up committed permanently to a mental institution after being declared criminally insane.

The case had nearly broken him, gutted him spiritually much as the man he pursued had gutted the women he killed rendering them unrecognizable except through dental records.

It had cost him his relationship with Christina who couldn't understand why he'd become so obsessed with hunting him down. But C.J. understood it and when he'd returned to the States she'd caught up with him. If it hadn't been for her….he might have never come out of the darkness.

He drove to the mental hospital and was directed to the psychiatrist who oversaw his case. The man assured him that Castanos was isolated from the rest of the world, his mail screened if he got any and that the man had been pretty much catatonic for a long time.

But when he'd been alone with the man, the charade melted away when Castanos sung happy birthday to him.

"I trust it was eventful…," he purred.

His voice dripping malice. Matt's hands clenched at his sides but he felt powerless to do anything on the other side of the door.

Then Castanos threatened to harm C.J. and Matt banged on the door and threatened him back. Castanos seemed to welcome that. He told Matt to enjoy the last days or hours of his life, prepare for the end because he was going to die.

Bronson tried his best in the parking lot but Matt wasn't suffering fools and that hit man ended up in a conference room being interrogated by him and Vince. A few threats later, Bronson had spilled the plot and Matt knew he had to close in on the men trying to kill him before they punched his number.

Or worse, went after a person that he loved.

* * *

C.J. saw Matt when he came into after having been at the station dealing with the interrogation of the hit man he'd caught trying to kill him.

He looked more than a little freaked and sat by himself with a deck of cards. Most people couldn't reach him when he was in that place but she could…offering to take him to dinner.

They'd go see Bo in the hospital first, sounded like a plan. But the best laid out plans…hit man number two showed up to try to run them over in the parking lot of the hospital. They'd left his car and he'd held her hand as they walked across the lot.

This one despite his rep had been taken out easier…for good. She went home and sat in her tub, bubbles around her and a few candles lit. Carl had liked it that way but he was back working at a firm in Europe.

Matt liked soaking in tubs too as long as she'd been there with him. It'd only happened once but she'd drive herself faint thinking about it.

Him stroking her body with the sponge, streaming water over her. But so much time had passed. The phone rung and she picked it up.

"Houston…did you hear anything?"

"No…we're waiting more information from Interpol on this guy," he said, "I don't think it'll be much different than what Baby told us."

"You still up Houston? When you planning on getting some sleep?"

"When Castanos goes down for it," he said, "Why you still up?"

She sighed.

"Just unwinding a bit before hitting the sack."

"See you in the morning," he said, "You'll be dropping in on Bo?"

"Yeah first thing…I think Mama's been holding the fort there too."

Matt hung up hopefully to get some sleep. She understood what drove his obsession but she didn't want it to get the better of him or set him up to be murdered by Castanos.

She didn't want to lose him.

* * *

Matt paced back and forth in front of the phone when he wasn't hitting the burgundy. He'd been out chasing leads on Castanos now that the crazed serial killer had escaped from the mental institution. Nothing had panned out and Vince had promised that he'd put multiple teams on it and more than one APB.

So Matt returned to the office to the secretaries chasing him down with papers to sign. But his mind was just on Castanos the man who he knew wanted him to act crazy. But when he went after him, he'd have a plan.

C.J. was supposed to be here after having spent the morning at the hospital. But she hadn't shown up yet and she hadn't called.

Where the hell was she?

Pam walked up to him.

"We've got the meeting on the merger with another clothing company," she said, "You think Murray will be back in time?"

Matt ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't know…C.J. was supposed to handle it and I can't locate her."

"She was at the hospital wasn't she?"

He nodded.

"But she should have left," he said, "I'm going to call over there."

He went to do that. But he found out that she'd left a couple hours earlier and yet her car remained in the parking lot.

A security guard found a pair of keys next to it on the ground. He knew right then and here who had found her.

* * *

C.J. held onto him so hard she didn't think she'd ever let go of him. She'd been lying there bound and tied on the ground while two men fought over her. Castanos to own her by killing her and Matt by saving her life.

She'd been grabbed right out of the parking lot and woke up inside an RV. She'd tried to reason with Castanos, to persuade him into letting her go but she knew he'd treat her as he did the other women who likely begged for their own lives. He'd called Matt to meet him at an amusement park using her as bait and he'd shown up right on schedule.

She'd missed most of the fighting, steeling herself for the sound of gunfire that meant one of them had won. One of them would come bounding up the hill and into sight…and she'd prayed so hard it'd be Matt.

Not wanting to die, not wanting him to be killed. She'd distanced herself from what was happening for protection.

But after it all ended, she'd felt herself go limp. Matt had helped her on her feet and slid his arm around her to lead her out of the park.

Of course Castanos hadn't been dead and he'd grabbed Matt's rifle. One shot left he said before Matt leapt at him.

A final gunshot and…it'd hit Castanos not Matt who lay in her arms. Vince had all kinds of questions for him but all Matt wanted to do was get her out of there. They headed to the ranch where she showered the terror of the last few hours away and changed into her uniform of faded jeans and a flannel shirt while Matt barbecued.

She made the salad. Life was trying to get back to normal again. But it'd be a while before she gave him his birthday gift.

* * *

Matt threw a party for Bo when he got out of the hospital. Bo charmed the secretaries into getting him plenty of beer and C.J. received the call that he'd waited so many years to year.

Castanos was finally dead. It had been a leap from a 14 story window at the hospital that had done what dozens of bullets did not.

He held C.J. in his arms as she held onto him back. Life would go on for both of them.


	16. Chapter 16

C.J. kicked back in her hotel room in Singapore after ordering from room service. The plane had landed two hours earlier after that grueling 10 hour flight from L.A. The first class seats had mitigated the damage but both she and Matt decided to freshen up after checking in.

They shared a suite, separate bedrooms of course. They'd be a cocktail mixer later that night among the investors in the ballroom that Murray insisted on them attending but she wanted a nap first. So after showering, she put the blue silken robe around her and collapsed on the bed.

God, it'd been damn crazy the past week. It'd started off simple enough with her making plans to go to a wedding in town just after she returned from Singapore. Matt had just returned from Rotterdam and held court with the board by the swimming pool on his ranch after his morning swim.

He'd joked with her about her luggage and she went to pick it up at her house. Seemed simple enough. But then Laurel and Hardy showed up.

No, not the real ones but some impersonators who had tried to make money as standup comedians but were working as professional hit men on the side.

They'd tried to take her out in the station wagon on the highway. But that had only been the beginning. The whole plot to murder her and her sorority sisters was just so ludicrous in the light of day. It hadn't been funny when two women had already been murdered in ways ruled accidental or when she'd suffered a concussion in her first encounter with the men hired to do the hits.

After they'd hauled "Aunt Liz" and her younger fiancé Jonathan Renfield away in handcuffs, C.J. had run the whole deal past Pam while they were both out doing tequila shots the night before she finally headed to Singapore.

"So she was the head mother of Sigma whatever and marrying the widower of one of your sorority sisters who got iced five years earlier?"

C.J. nodded before downing another one.

"I mean if she doesn't want us to figure out she married the same guy, why have us all be bridesmaids in her wedding?"

"Yeah doesn't make sense doesn't it?"

C.J. snorted.

"I was trying to explain it all to my friend Robert…he's the news reporter in St. Louis and he couldn't believe it."

"So you and Houston…you did your thing and busted their asses so it all ended well."

C.J. smiled.

"I'll say it did and Houston's out celebrating with Carol right now," she said, "the two of them hit it off during the case and you know Houston."

Pam shook her head.

"He sure works fast doesn't he?"

Matt had left Carol behind in L.A. when they'd boarded the plane to Singapore so it had been fast. It'd be a two week jaunt so maybe that'd cool things off a bit. He'd hit his room probably to shower and nap like her.

Someone knocked on her door.

"That must be Murray," C.J. said, "I'll get back to you later."

But she opened the door and saw Matt instead.

"No Houston, I'm so not going down that road with you," she said, "Why don't we just forget it?"

He paced the room, running a hand through his thick hair and looking at her. She stood here wearing a shirt that was partly unbuttoned and chord pants. After untangling herself from his embrace she found herself backing away from him.

His own shirt, rumbled up and he looked at the woman in front of him.

"There's nothing to forget…yet," he said, "except for that kiss we shared."

Her lips still tingled from where they'd parted to accept his own, the tip of her tongue tracing the borders of his mouth.

"Then let's make sure there's not more to forget."

He stopped moving and looked at her.

"Carol and me…we aren't…"

She just sighed deeply.

"This isn't about your latest girlfriend Houston…and she's a very nice woman. It's about not wanting to ruin a great thing. Our friendship's the most important thing in my life."

"Mine too…but if we…"

She took a deep breath collecting her thoughts.

"No…I am not jumping in the sack with you," she said, "Houston, you have a family. That's something I haven't had since I'm a kid and our friendship…it's the closest thing."

"You're family…you know how Uncle Roy and Will feel about you and my father…I think he always wanted a daughter."

She smiled.

"I know Houston…I'm sorry but like I said, I'm not going to become your latest thing."

He frowned.

"That's not how I look at you…that's not how I looked at you that night either."

She glanced away from him and fell silent.

"I don't want to talk about that," she said, "We're so not going there Houston."

He leaned against the chaise.

"C.J. what happened between us…"

"Houston….Let's just stop this now," she said, "besides we have a meeting with Murray before the mixer."

"Not for another two hours…"

She sighed.

"I've got to get ready and you need to just go."

He did and she shook her head closing the door. She didn't know where that came from at all and it ticked her off. Maybe all the jet lag and the adrenalin rush of the past few days ebbing from both of them. She'd nearly died after all at the hands of the Laurel and Hardy lookalikes. Did she just think that? The craziness of the case they'd just solved remained with her.

"Damn him…"

She knew he was just being a man but for him to suggest that their time in East Asia would be spent having a fling was just crazy talk.

Two hours and she'd rather spend it in bed alone, taking a nap before the meeting. Her body had felt all kinds of sensations when he'd kissed her and his hands had stroked her skin, his fingers deftly handling the buttons on her shirt.

But then he'd had a lot of practice in the art of disrobing women. Not that she'd been the chaste one in the room as she'd had her hands on him, the tracing the contours of the muscles on her back. Even with fabric between them and her fingers, well her memories filled in the rest.

No, she wouldn't go there like she did and if her dreams resulted to a journey to the past, then trouble lay in her future.

Big trouble.


	17. Chapter 17

Cindy Gaines followed him around like an adoring puppy dog. Matt had discovered her riding barrels in some rodeo back in Arizona when he'd been on a business trip.

Riding broncos had always been his way of relaxing in between business junkets and this one, no different. He'd been in Mesquite Arizona on his way to Phoenix International Airport from visiting a horse ranch and dropped in the saddle bronco competition at the last minute. He wound up finishing second behind a pro and stayed to walk the barrel racing event.

She'd been the best of a batch of talented riders in this backwater town. Cornering each barrel with her sorrel quarter horse gelding as if it were spinning on a half dollar in the dirt. She won the competition handily and afterward he couldn't help himself, he just had to meet her.

He chatted her up and when she told him she'd hit a rodeo at Bakersfield he knew he'd be there watching. It didn't hurt that she was real pretty, with long blonde hair the color of Texas grass in the autumn and expressive blue eyes, framed by a lovely face.

Not that he looked her that way…she was just too young for him but damn the girl had talent and he wanted to help her realize her dream of being a professional jockey.

She'd gone to work for the top quarter horse racing operation ran by Winston Fowler who Matt knew from way back. Cindy had auditioned her riding skills in a trial race and had been hired quickly enough. Mostly on her innate talent but partly due to her fresh faced good looks which would set her up for endorsements even before she made her mark on the racing circuit.

Matt kept in touch with her and everything looked like it was coming up for her. Then out of the blue Winston called him up to come down and watch her ride at Los Alamitos.

He sensed a favor in it but it'd give him a chance to see Cindy again…

* * *

_**Earlier…**_

_She looked up at him smiling as they stood together outside on the back patio of the mansion owned by Winston. His importing business not to mention his foray into horse racing had elevated his standard of living quite a bit. _

_Guests from just about every A list from athletics to politics and everything in between milled in and out of the house as the two of them walked out the French doors out into the patio. She'd linked her arm in his, admiring his looks. _

"_Oh Matt…you're so gorgeous in your tux. I think it's the first time I've ever seen you in one."_

_He had been tugging at his tie all evening. He hated the damn things preferring worn jeans and an even more worn out chambray shirt. Not what he often called a penguin suit. C.J. had come to the party with him wearing a strapless gown that took his breath away though he'd never admit it. She'd been a bit terse with him since they'd returned from Singapore. _

_She'd been busy too. It seemed that she left some days earlier to go off on some errand which she wouldn't share with him. He'd ask out of politeness and then later curiosity but she'd change the subject or tell him she didn't need to explain her every move to him. _

"_Do you like me Matt?"_

_He returned to the present and saw that she'd moved closer to him. _

"_Of course I do Cindy," he said, "Liked you since I first saw you on Mesquite. Hell of a good rider."_

_She narrowed her eyes. _

"_No Matt…I mean…do you like me?"_

_Then it dawned on him what she meant by that. _

"_Cindy…"_

_She moved even closer. _

"_Matt I think I…I really like you and I know you like me even if you've never said anything."_

_He sighed. He thought her a nice young girl and yes…she was pretty but she was too young or him and just not his type. _

"_Cindy…you're really nice but…"_

_She nodded. _

"_You don't want to talk about it here in public. I totally understand…they'll be time for that later."_

_Then she'd left him to walk back into the party leaving him to wonder just how deep her feelings for him really ran._

* * *

C.J. dunked some of her chips into the guacamole. Carol and Maureen had joined her after work to hit El Coyote in West L.A. for some margaritas and fajitas. She'd headed on out there after Matt had returned to the office after spending time at Los Alamitos with Winston and Cindy.

"So if this Cindy his flavor of the week?"

C.J. shot a look at Carol who fluffed her hair back. She'd been Matt's flavor for two weeks before he'd headed off with C.J. to Singapore. Though it hadn't lasted, the two bore no ill feelings towards one another.

"I don't know Carol. Houston says that it's a one way deal," she said, "She likes him and he's not really into her."

Carol chuckled.

"She seems a bit young. What I will say about Houston is that he likes women who are experienced in all kinds of ways. Cindy just seems a bit naïve when it comes to anything but horses."

C.J. couldn't argue with that. Maureen sighed. She'd been hoping to bag herself some Matt but he went straight to Carol instead just like back in the sorority days. All the men flocked to the future doctor so nothing had changed.

"So C.J. you never told us about Singapore. How was it being in such close quarters with your…best friend?"

She sighed, having not shared that information for a reason. But now both women looked at her expectantly.

"Nothing happened and it's not going to happen," she said, "He pissed me off when he came onto me like that."

Both women looked at each other then at her.

"C.J. did you hit your head or something…wait scratch that you did…maybe that's why you stupidly turned down what could have been a lot of fun."

She drank some more of her margarita.

"I'm not blowing the best friendship I have for some time between the sheets. I don't know what I'd do if we got together, broke up and it ruined what we had…no, there's plenty of other guys out there for that."

Maureen reached for the pitcher.

"I still think you should at least try it," she said, "You must wonder what it'd be like…I would if I were you."

But Maureen wasn't her and she did know what it'd been like years ago. No, she couldn't go down that path again with him.

Her cell phone vibrated and she picked it up.

Matt.

"I'd better take this…"

She left the women behind as she went to find out what kind of trouble he'd gotten into now.

* * *

"C.J. it's not like that," Matt said, "I went into the stall because I was called to meet someone there and I found her inside the stall instead."

She sighed.

"Houston, you were seen holding the pitchfork someone gutted her with," she said, "You know how bad that looks and that Vince is just doing his job."

He ran a hand through his hair as they sat on the chaise inside the penthouse suite. The phone call had been Matt at the police station telling her what happened and that two detectives had grilled him, doing that good cop bad cop thing on him.

Vince had words with the taller one already and Matt had stopped him from blowing 25 years on the force in one conversation.

"I didn't do it."

"I know that Houston…but they're going to try to build a case against you and Vince won't be able to stop them."

He focused on the screen ahead at a more vibrant photo of Cindy when she'd been alive than what she'd looked like when he found her. Her face ashen, blood pooling around her body.

The image wouldn't leave his mind. C.J. saw him and slid her arm around him, as they sat together.

"We're going to get through this Houston," she said, "You're not going to prison. I know you're not guilty because I know you."

He leaned against her. She'd had one of her meetings tonight but she canceled it. Her best friend needed her right now. Still the police had nothing to hold Matt on, let alone file murder charges.

That had been before they had found out about Cindy's diary….

* * *

Matt didn't like getting shot at, didn't like getting his cars wrecked and when it came to getting charged with murdering people he really didn't like that either. All had happened in this latest episode the more he went hunting for what he told C.J. too many times, the real killer. He sat in the hot tub after Cindy's father, a retired homicide detective had tried to go after him again, threatening to kill him this time.

Damn, maybe it was time to just slip away to that new resort Murray was raving about snatching up in the Bahamas.

C.J. pointed out that she found out via Baby that Victor Macy had left under less than honorable circumstances messing out on his pension. She also said that she had bumped into one of her old friends from her sorority days who just happened to be a psychiatrist treating Cindy for some mental illness.

"I don't know him as the world famous shrink of course," she said, "I just know him as Fuzzy."

Matt's eyebrows arched up. She'd pulled another fast one on him again…just when he thought he had he all figured out and knew everything there was to know about his best friend, she proved once again she had her secrets. This one involved a man.

"Fuzzy?"

She looked amused. She knew that he'd start peppering him with questions like he always did when he discovered she actually had a life outside of work.

"Oh it's just a guy I knew who earned that nickname because…"

Then she stopped. Better to leave him guessing, she decided.

"Did you…he…"

She sighed folding her arms.

"Quit while you're ahead Houston," she said, "I'll call him up, ask him to dinner to catch up and I'll come back to you with some answers."

He smiled.

"I don't know what I'd do without you C.J."

She patted him on the cheek in a way more like a caress.

"Hope you never have to find out…"

* * *

C.J. knew they were being watched. But she still had to meet him at the cemetery. She'd told him to drop underground after finding out that they were going to try to nail him in addition for telling Cindy that he'd planned to kill C.J.

Now of course that hadn't happened. They knew by now that Cindy's entire diary had been one huge delusion from an illness that she'd kept hidden from most of the world. But no one believed that a woman could express fear about a man killing her and then somehow manage to wind up dead with that same man standing over her with the murder weapon. Vegas wouldn't take those odds that it was all one big coincidence and neither would the LAPD homicide unit.

They were both thinking that Midge Moran looked the guiltiest ever since learning he'd been convicted for assault and battery several times against women. Something just didn't make sense though. Especially after when they met with Winston, a horse running loose from out of nowhere wound up dragging Matt through the corral. If it hadn't been for the fact that she'd dressed for it and well, you never forgot your riding skills he'd have been skinned alive.

Of course no one at the scene admitted doing it. Damn, it was all she could do just to keep him alive let alone getting him off of these ridiculous murder charges. At some point, she had reached for her phone to call the one person who could help him…the one who owed her big time…but she dropped that idea like a hot Texan pepper.

She drove out to the cemetery in her convertible and parked a distance away walking to the meeting spot, making sure she wasn't being followed. Quietness surrounded her, it was a typical sunny day in L.A.

"C.J. you make sure you weren't followed?"

A flash of annoyance moved through her. She'd taken all the precautionary steps to insure that their meeting would be private. He's the one who picked the cemetery.

"Of course…Houston…where'd you sleep last night?"

He sighed.

"You don't want to know," he said, "now what did you find out?"

"Vince is not very happy with you right now," she said, "I know you want to protect him but he wants to help you."

He shook his head.

"No, I'm not having him blow his pension on my account," he said, "Now I think…"

Then he stopped talking and looked past her.

"C.J…are you sure you weren't being followed?"

She turned her head to see those same detectives approaching them.

"Damn you get moving Houston…I'll divert them how."

"How?"

"I'll think of something," she said, "Now get that ass moving. I'm not paying the higher bail this time if you get caught."

He sprinted off into the trees and she knew what to do next. She walked up to the detective to block their path, to say anything to divert them.

Just long enough for Matt to get away.

* * *

He sat on the bed inside one of the seedier motels on the Sunset strip. The kind that leased by the hour but perfect, for lying low since the management was discreet. Slip them an extra hundred and it had memory problems as well.

"You'd better stay here for a while Houston…"

He watched her pace the room trying to figure out what to do. C.J. always planned better on the move. She'd booked him the motel room under a name that sounded like she worked the graveyard shift on Sunset and he snuck in from the car parked down the street.

"I can't C.J…I got to talk to Midge," he said, "I'm not sure he did it. Anything back on this Knute character?"

She shook her head.

"Nothing…like he doesn't exist. Haven't heard back yet from Interpol but I doubt they'll find him there either."

He watched her still moving, her dark curly hair around her face and wearing jeans and a turtleneck shirt. The necklace she always wore, a gift from her deceased father winked in the light. Suddenly he remembered what it had been like to slide his hands across her back, slipping beneath the fabric of her shirt back in the hotel room in Singapore. Before she'd stopped him, she'd responded kissing his mouth, savoring it. Her hands on his chest. His plans included coaxing her clothes right off of her and making good use of the 700 thread sheet bed.

"Houston…did you hear one damn word I said just now?"

He blinked his eyes.

"Just that we're going to use this Lori to sting Midge," he said, "and nail him as our killer."

She nodded.

"That's if he did it," she said, "If he didn't it might show us the real killer. Since we know that Midge shoving her against the stall didn't kill her."

He ran a hand through his hair.

"I hope it works. I want to go back home," he said, "Life on the run doesn't suit me."

She smiled.

"You'll be back attending gala events wearing a socialite on your arm before you know it."

That wasn't what he meant but he didn't say anything, content to watch her unload the bags of Chinese takeout for their dinner tonight.

A woman who wore her beauty gracefully without thinking about it.

* * *

C.J. drank more margaritas than usual at El Coyote that night. She'd met up there with Carol who'd started dating a neurologist who'd started volunteering at her clinic in his limited spare time.

"So Matt got cleared once again? The real killer's in jail."

C.J. nodded.

"He's making up for lost time with Vince," he said, "They're off to the Dodger game eating dogs and drinking beer."

Carol sighed.

"Sometimes I think it's much easier being a guy," she said, "so he didn't come out of this one with a girlfriend?"

C.J. shook her head.

"No…but he's taking some time off to head Acapulco so he'll have plenty to choose from there."

Carol smiled.

"I do miss him…but Nathan…he's more my speed."

C.J. knew that her friend really cared about the new man in her life. As for her, she'd returned from her meeting even more unsettled. She had things in her life needing to be sorted out and she'd figure it'd be too much trouble to add a new boyfriend into the mix.

Still, she didn't complete exclude the possibility…


	18. Chapter 18

**Six months later…**

C.J. woke with a start in her bed. Darkness all around her and the faint sound of cars driving down the street in front of her house.

The clock read 3 a.m. and she lay back on the bed. It'd been another nightmare about the time she'd spent on the island in the Bahamas as a captive of a band of terrorists.

Marquis Duval the father was cooling his heels in a federal prison with his son. The terrorist cell had been disbanded and what was left of the compound burned to the ground. There was nothing left to dream about months later.

The federal prosecutors had asked her a litany of questions about the time she'd spent as Duval's prisoner but she kept out certain details of her ordeal and then tried to put it all behind her. It seemed likely that Marquis Sr. would refuse to take a plea bargain and his case would make it to trial inside a courtroom but that she probably wouldn't be needed to testify. Since his followers had started betraying him beginning the moment the handcuffs were clicked on their wrists, their testimony from the inside of one of the most sophisticated terrorist cells in South America would be enough to send its leaders to prison for the rest of their lives.

Why bother dreaming about it? Only in this dream she'd been a little girl, not a grown woman. That she understood given what had been happening the past year. She had just received a report back last night and no news yet. It's been almost a year since she'd started this quest and she had little to show for it.

She had to get to sleep. Matt would be returning tomorrow from a fishing trip up in Alaska that he took with his father. Just the two of them spending time together after Matt had wrapped up a case where a police officer had been falsely charged with murder.

The Matt who'd left L.A. had been completely worn out, what with the bizarre episode with his double that had been created to assume his identity as part of a real estate scam. A wildcatter named Virgil Wade had wound up taking a bullet meant for him and died on the front steps.

Her best friend had grieved that one a lot harder than expected and had paid for his funeral back in Texas. She still didn't get it and he didn't talk about it. If he wanted to confide in her, he'd do it on his own time.

What he had done was step down as CEO of Houston Enterprises and insured that all of its profits would go to the Houston Charitable Foundation instead. She'd supported him in that move like she had all the rest and told her she'd be there if he needed to talk to her. But he reassured her everything was okay, he just needed a change.

Then he'd taken off and gone fishing with his father.

He'd be back tomorrow because they'd promised a client that they'd put a man who tried to swindle him under surveillance. He'd gotten a bit of grief from the no-nonsense by the book lieutenant who had taken over Vince's position after he'd been medically retired not long after the escapade on Duval's island.

He never made a promise that he didn't keep.

The new secretary looked up at her as she walked into the penthouse the next day.

"Any messages?"

Chris had been hired after her twin sister had eloped with a CPA who'd she gone to high school with years ago and had settled down back in Houston working with Murray Chase at corporate headquarters. Truth was Pam had been stressed out more and more about the danger that Matt's investigative firm brought back to the office and she thought Texas might be far enough away.

That time when Matt had gotten his Granddaddy's turkey shooter out of the cabinet, racked it up and then walked into the elevator with it had shaken her up good.

"It's just that I never saw you with a gun before…"

All Matt could think to say was what he'd said a lot.

"This time is different…"

The last straw had been a dazed Matt waking up from where he'd slept in the couch when he was supposed to be with C.J. at a resort in the Bahamas. At first when he called her by his partner's name, she'd thought he'd been on something. But when she found out the truth or read about it in the newspapers later on, she started looking for another job.

C.J. couldn't blame her. If she hadn't been with Matt from the very beginning, she might feel the same way.

Chris handed her some slips of paper and she noticed that Courtney Gaynor the mystery writer had called again asking to hire Matt. She crumpled that one up and tossed it in the trash with the rest of them. They'd had enough of her at the mystery writers' conference where she slapped Matt's face twice before the case had been solved.

Matt had downed a couple Scotches after having to arrest one of his closest friends who had killed two people in less than a week.

"Oh and Houston said he'd meet you at the arena," Chris said, "Something about a stakeout?"

C.J. nodded.

"Oh that…I just have to pick up a few things for a party tonight and I'll be on my way there."

* * *

Matt stood amid the seating in the Hollywood Bowl where he was set up to have a meeting posing as a client being blackmailed by a former business partner.

Nothing to it, just get enough on tape to arrest the guy. The cops would be waiting to swoop in with the handcuffs and he had C.J. sitting in a car as his immediate backup. She'd shown up concerned about the operation but he'd swayed her worries quickly. He was a highly trained and very professional investigator who could handle just about any situation that jumped in his face. She'd been pretty there with her jeans, dressy blouse and a new pair of boots. They'd caught up a bit beforehand, with him talking about spending time with his daddy and her talking about throwing a birthday party for Maureen at Lucy's Bar and Grill.

Then they put on their professional outfits and got to work. As always she told him to be careful, not to do anything to get himself hurt or killed.

"I don't want to get stuck with the workload," she said, "or have to explain to your daddy how you died on my watch."

As he always did he assured her she'd be fine and kissed her on the cheek. Like a friend kissing a friend, like he kissed her a zillion times before during their relationship.

He thought about that as he waited for the man to show up. He knew he was beyond fortunate to have a friend like her in his life. Damn beautiful both inside and out and he knew then once again, he'd have to keep his thoughts straying into more forbidden areas of their complicated friendship

No drifting to that one summer night years ago…no he couldn't ever go there again. If he did, he might forget his promise.

Just the sight of her buck naked in front of him, shy and sweet, saucy and sexy all wrapped up in one incredible package…

"You showed up. I thought you'd bail out on me."

Back to professional mode, the outfit he slipped into so effortlessly. The man looked nervous, glancing around and kept pushing Matt to hand over the money.

But Matt wasn't here to pay off a blackmailer, he was there to bust one. He reached to grab him after calling his bluff. Instead the man pulled out a sharp knife and plunged it in one swift movement into his shoulder. It sliced through skin and muscle…blood spurting everywhere.

Shock overrode pain for now and he felt himself grow dizzy as the man sprinted away from him to escape.

* * *

C.J. showed up at the party late for Maureen only after Matt insisted that she go. He'd only really been dinged by the man's knife and just needed some stitches. Besides the nurse that treated him, a pretty blonde woman named Meredith Brown had caught his eye and they were going out to dinner tonight.

God her best friend worked fast and no doubt this Meredith would be sliding between the sheets with Romeo tonight at his beach house in Malibu. The perfect bachelor pad and now his main residence since he sold the ranch.

No point in calling him later to see if he was feeling better from his injury as Meredith would give him some extra nursing care to make him feel a whole lot better. She smiled to herself, remembering how much Matt enjoyed hitting the sheets. She enjoyed it. She didn't notch up his numbers or keep her dates on a Rolodex or even an Excel spreadsheet but she'd had a couple one-monthers she called them since returning from Duval's island.

Matt really enjoyed pleasing the women he bedded and his skill in that area had likely only gotten a lot better. Damn any woman that wound up spending the night with him was very lucky indeed even if his dalliances rarely lasted long.

Maureen sighed as they got ready to head on out after her party.

"You'd think he'd take the night off after getting stabbed," she said, "but nothing ever stops him does it?"

"No…I'm sure he'll call or show up at the office when he comes up for air."

Both women chuckled.

"He's a great guy…if he ever decided to settle down, I'd go for someone like him."

C.J. knew Maureen would do just that. She'd never hooked up with Matt herself because at the time, he'd only had eyes for the flashier Dr. Carol but they were certainly friendly enough.

"I don't think that'll be anytime soon," C.J. said, "He likes having his fun with women and then moving on."

"How many hearts has he broken anyway…when he's moved on?"

C.J. shrugged

"Not many…the women he dates, they know exactly where they stand with him…even when they're lying down."

Maureen nodded.

"That's good…it's always better when there's no misunderstandings…"

C.J. agreed.

* * *

Matt woke up knowing that his bed wasn't empty. It all came back to him in a rush. He'd met up with Meredith, call me Erin, at a bar and they'd shared a few drinks. Talked, laughed as she seemed to be lively and easy going.

It hadn't been that long before she followed him to his house to share a nightcap or two…and then they'd start kissing. Clothes started coming off and they'd fallen into bed together. The sex had been a lot of fun, just what he needed after a stressful few months, no doubt about it she was a beautiful and vivacious woman.

He left her sleeping and got up to shower and wear his robe while he cooked breakfast for them to eat out on the deck before they went their separate ways. He enjoyed doing that for the women he bedded before sending them off.

Erin had been a lot of fun but he was footloose and fancy free. He wasn't looking for anything long-term or beyond a single night.

"Hi handsome…"

She sashayed in the room wearing one of his robes, her hair still damp from showering.

"I see you made breakfast, how sweet of you," she said, sitting down, "Eggs Benedict my favorite…"

He watched her eat in contentment and thought of how to say goodbye to her. Surely she'd understand that while what they shared had been a lot of fun, it wasn't going anywhere.

He waited until she was done eating her breakfast.

* * *

C.J. shook her head looking at Matt who'd been sitting in front of Baby putting together a dossier on Erin.

"You sure know how to pick them partner," she said, "Didn't she give you any signs that she might just be psychotic?"

He shook his head reaching for his glass of Scotch. It'd been an eventful couple of days what with Erin not taking this whole one night stand deal very well. At first she'd ignored him, kept calling him as if he'd never told her it was over between them and then she'd had a bit of a tantrum but he thought that had ended it.

Until she trashed his house and then physically attacked him. What the hell had gotten into her?

"She seemed normal enough to me," he said, "Real nice actually and we had a good time."

C.J. looked at the screen which displayed a picture of Erin when she'd been younger, graduating from a nursing program.

"She's had a hard life Houston and one of her relatives….he was suspected of molesting her when she'd been a little girl. Course nothing happened to him."

Matt closed his eyes only imagining what that must have been like. C.J. loved how he had compassion for others even those who'd tried to hurt him. But this woman…she'd tried to kill him and nearly succeeded. He had to go buy himself some sense.

"She's messed up Houston…it's nothing that you said or did that set her off," C.J. said, "Maybe it's time to find her doctor and talk to him."

Matt nodded, knowing he had to get more information on Erin's past to help determine what made her tick before it was too late.

Before she killed someone.

* * *

Matt stared into the window of the padded cell where Erin now spent her days and nights. She sat there in her nightgown completely catatonic and the doctors said she showed zero reaction to any stimuli.

He'd left C.J. behind at the office, completely shaken in what had nearly happened to her. Erin had grown increasingly emotionally instable and more possessive of him, believing they were in a serious relationship. At some point, she'd become fixated on C.J. believing that if she just eliminated her as her main rival then she'd have Matt to herself.

So she'd ambushed C.J. in the penthouse suite when she'd been alone and gone after her with a sharp knife. C.J.

His best friend had fought hard like she'd been trained but by the time he got there, Erin had her pinned on her ground near the spa with a knife to her throat.

He'd had to shoot her to save C.J. Damn, what a mess his one night stand turned out to be and he spent the rest of that night second guessing himself.

C.J. had told him over and over again that it wasn't his fault…but he couldn't help it. He'd hoped by coming here to visit Erin he'd understand her better and get some answers…but she seemed a shell of what she used to be. She might live out the rest of her natural life that way, her doctor said.

He stood there watching for what seemed a long time. She never looked up at him once.

* * *

C.J. poured herself another glass of Scotch while sitting in the entertainment room of her house. She'd tried working but left the office to head on home…her mind still caught up on what had happened with Erin. She didn't blame the clearly mentally deranged woman…and she certainly didn't blame Matt. She just needed some time away…from the office and from L.A.

She called the man she'd hired on her search and he told her of a sighting up in Napa Valley. A long shot he told her but she decided to pack a bag and go check it out.

Just take a long weekend off and fly up there to spend some time at the wineries even if the tip didn't pan out.

But deep inside she hoped that it did and she finally found what she'd been looking for.


	19. Chapter 19

C.J. sighed as she literally meet Maureen at the airport. She'd been packed up and ready to go to Puerto Vallarta for over a week now but she'd been too busy helping Matt solve another case involving the multiple murders of gorgeous women and no shortage of suspects.

Of course that left a sizable group of sexy women who were needing some protection from an all too willing Matt not to mention the fact that they were all centerfolds for a provocative calendar. Matt had always had a weakness for shapely young woman adorned in bikinis that flattered every curve. He had been in seventh heaven being surrounded by all these beauties needing his brand of rescuing and she wondered how many phone numbers wound up being added to the Rolodex in his office.

Still he needed her help to do the researching on Baby who liked her best and to bounce off ideas on just who might be the killer. She didn't get this…he really didn't need her to stay in L.A. to do all this. After all, there was a beach in Mexico with her name on it. Maureen had just broken up with a steady boyfriend and needed to kick up her heels a bit.

C.J. just needed to get away. Finally after the Centerfold Murders case as the media labeled it had been solved, she'd just picked up her packed bags and gotten into the helicopter to take the trip to the airport to catch her flight. Matt had been about to pilot her but then just before they stepped foot outside the building…the phone rang and he of course answered it.

It had been another old friend of his who had yet another case he needed to solve and she braced herself for Matt to ask her to postpone her vacay if he dared. Of course he did and she'd clocked him upside the head before he finished his request. Now she wasn't a violent woman but she'd been working her ass off since they'd gotten back from Duval's island. Save a brief trip to Napa's wine country that hadn't been as fruitful as hoped.

She'd gotten to LAX with enough time to spare to meet up with Maureen to hop on the plane to Puerto Vallarta and then take the limo to the posh resort where they'd share a bungalow just off the beach. They drank margaritas on the deck looking out into the waves crashing on the shore, the moon hugging the horizon, bathing the ocean in shimmering light.

God it was so beautiful, C.J. thought. She didn't miss L.A. at all right now. Maureen sighed in obvious contentment.

"I think we should go out dancing tomorrow at one of the discos," she said, "I came here to forget Dan and I intend to do just that."

C.J. couldn't believe that Maureen had wanted to put some wild into her weekend. She had always been the more conservative one…and it'd been Carol who'd been friskier. But the good doctor had eschewed the weekend with the girls to spend time with her new boyfriend.

As it turned out the vacation had some surprises in store for her as well.

* * *

Matt looked across the table at Celeste, who'd gone with him to the charity silent auction and gala at the Ebell Theater. The money raised went to the good cause of paying for a new wing at Wilshire Memorial Hospital and since he spent so much time in the ER getting patched up, he felt duty bound to give something back.

"Matt, you going to bid on the necklace?"

Celeste had been asking him that all night. She'd been November in the planned calendar of centerfold models which had to be scratched after a number of them had wound up murdered. He'd solved that case with C.J.'s help and he'd rescued Celeste from a grisly demise. She'd been so grateful she'd given him her number and he'd taken her out. Ever since Erin, he'd been more cautious with getting to know the women, running backgrounds on some of them before they went out.

She gave him an expectant look and he remembered her question.

"No…I think that Ivan wants to buy it for his daughter, Sasha."

Celeste frowned, and settled back in her chair. She looked real sexy in her blue sequined dress slit up to just above her knee. She wore a fur stoll around it and the paparazzi had snapped a lot of photos of them together on the red carpet. He knew the columns and tabloids would buzz with L.A.'s sexiest millionaire/investigator and the centerfold model.

Too Mean Malone and his date, a gospel singer had joined him at the table.

"I put down on the Super Bowl package," he said, "too rich for my blood."

Matt smiled.

"Got box seats if it's ever in Houston."

Celeste beamed.

"Matt was going to put a bid on the necklace."

Too Mean frowned.

"The Star of Moira necklace"

Celeste nodded, then sobered up.

"But he said he wants some man to buy it for his daughter."

Too Mean looked at Matt.

"You mean Ivan don't you?"

Matt nodded.

"Yeah…it's only right…it belonged to his mother," he said, "If it gets too high, I'll get it for him."

Too Mean whistled.

"You're too nice…but I get it…I haven't seen C.J. here tonight."

Matt sighed, picking up his Scotch to sip.

"She's vacationing in Mexico with a friend," he said, "If I hadn't given her the weekend off she would have killed me."

Too Mean chuckled.

"It'd have been justified man, you really worked her hard and she took it out on me in our sparring sessions."

"Well she's off having fun…she deserved it after the grind we'd been working," he said, "and she'll be back soon enough ready to tackle our newest cases."

"You got a bunch of them?"

Matt nodded.

"The phones were on fire after the Centerfold Murders cases was written up in PEOPLE," he said, "I picked up a half dozen clients the first couple days."

Too Mean whistled again.

"If you need any help…you know who to call. Got a few clients myself for my bodyguard services."

Matt smiled.

"Doesn't surprise me…and I might need your help," he said, "so stick by the phone…"

Too Mean laughed.

"I'll have my secretary do that…I'm too busy out in the field…I might need to hire a partner myself so you best keep C.J. real happy with you or I'll pick her up myself."

Matt feigned a hurt look.

"You'd do that to an old friend?"

"Better believe it…"

* * *

C.J. came back down to earth after some truly amazing sex. If she knew when she woke up this morning to a gorgeous sunrise that she'd finish out the day in the arms of an old flame from her past…she'd never believed it.

She watched him as he slept, the sheets up to his waist and his leg still slung over one of hers. It'd started when they ran into each other at lunch while she and Maureen had been eating on the veranda and the two men had approached them.

Robert Tyler…and Carl. The former was more flamboyant and showy talking up a storm though C.J. found herself rolling her eyes over most of what he said. She'd been more focused on the man with him. Carl, who she'd last seen when they'd hooked up briefly when he'd been in the MBA program at Harvard and she'd been in law school.

They'd kept loosely in touch since but she'd never thought in a million years that she'd ever fall into bed with him. Yet after the four of them lunched together, he'd walked on the beach with her and then invited her to dinner.

She had told Maureen not to wait up for her but then her friend had been caught up in getting dressed to go dancing with Robert. Honestly she didn't know what her usually sensible friend saw in the boyishly handsome but equally boyish behaved man who'd kept her and Matt quite busy bailing him out of the trouble that he seemed to attract effortlessly. But Maureen seemed smitten with him.

Maureen and Robert had left her and Carl alone and they'd enjoyed a wonderful evening that had eventually led to him taking her back to his bungalow. A couple of drinks and then they'd hit the sheets as if they'd never been apart.

She didn't think to call it love, or falling in love but she knew it meant something…much more than a one-night stand. But how would Carl feel about it?

He stirred and she stroked his hair causing him to open his eyes and look at her.

"Morning beautiful…"

She smiled as he shifted his body to look at her.

"Good morning yourself…you want some breakfast?"

He smiled back at her.

"Why don't you come a little closer first?"

She snuggled against him and he wrapped his arms around her.

* * *

Matt sat at a table at the Farmer's Market eating some breakfast as Randy walked over and sat next to him carrying a plate loaded with omelet.

"So you looking forward to seeing C.J. back today from Mexico?"

Matt stabbed his own slice of baked ham with a fork.

"She's not coming back," he said, "She phoned last night and said she's staying the whole week. She and Maureen ran into some old friends."

Randy shrugged.

"Sounds great…I bet she's having a great time. The lady always knew how to have fun."

Matt knew that Randy had gone out with his best friend for a few months and he didn't want any details.

"She met up with Carl…someone she knew from Harvard," he said, "she sounded real happy."

"You don't begrudge her that do you?"

Matt shook his head.

"I want her to be happy…"

Randy ate another bite.

"I'm sure she is," he said, "The guy better treat her right or he'll have to answer to me."

Matt felt the same sentiment when it came to C.J.

* * *

They walked on the beach on their last day in Puerto Vallarta before she headed back to the airport to fly out with Maureen and he headed back to his life in Chicago.

"I'll fly out and see you whenever I can get off."

She glanced sideways at him and nodded.

"This has been so great," she said, "It's been wonderful seeing you again, I can't even describe it."

He smiled at her and she knew she'd shown him how in so many ways the past week. The past couple of days they talked a lot about the future and whether or not it was worth trying to do the long distance thing.

She knew she wanted to give it a shot. The way he'd kissed her a few moments ago…told him better than words how he felt about the plan.

But could they find a way to make it work?

She'd be flying back later that day and instead of going home, she'd meet Matt at the penthouse suite to hit up Baby for information on a new case that'd just come in the office.

One that might wind up leading them back to Mexico.


	20. Chapter 20

C.J. hit the gym early that morning before she hit the pile of work in her office. She changed to her aerobics clothing and did some serious bench pressing. Not that she felt that she really needed it. Since Too Mean had been training her she had never felt more lean and mean. But she needed to burn off some nervous energy.

Carl her new boyfriend had applied for a position in a research laboratory at Caltech and was one of the three finalists due to be interviewed. He seemed confident he'd get it and relocate from Chicago to L.A. with one of the fringe benefits meaning they'd be closer together. It made her excited and nervous at the same time…as their long distance relationship had been both a means of controlling the pace of their renewed romance and yet it'd been frustrating not to see him when she wanted.

He wouldn't hear back on the results of the interview in several hours so she sat on pins and needles. Then, Matt had just returned from his cabin in Pinewood where he'd meant to spend it with his latest girlfriend Dr. Constance Harrison and her adorable daughter Jody. But she'd canceled on him again and it looked like that romance would bite the dust before it got started.

So she worked hard on those reps, starting with lat raises and them moving onto bench presses. That's when Matt walked down the spiral staircase past that tropical waterfall motif they had going with a glass of freshly squeezed juice in his hand.

She sat up and wiped her brow before taking it from his hand.

"Thanks…"

"How's the workout going? Too Mean's pushing you too hard because I can go have a word with him."

She shook her head.

"Hardly…I kicked his ass during the last sparring session," she said, "No, just hitting the weights…add some more muscle for the job."

"No pain no gain."

"Hey I'm just trying to get fitter, not look like Conan the Barbarian."

She knew there was little danger of that, being lean in frame and lithe in build though Carl did tell her that she was curved in all the right places. Damn she wished the time would blow by faster and he'd call her with good news.

Then Chris walked down the stairs and told her she had a phone call. Was it Carl? She braced herself.

"It's Connie Ling."

C.J. frowned, wondering why her college roommate would call her at the office as they had just had lunch together several days ago after her friend who was an art curator at the L.A. Museum of Art had just returned from a buying trip in the Far East.

She picked up the phone and it didn't take long for her to realize that her normally mild mannered friend was frantic over some men who were following her and desperately needed her help. C.J. motioned Matt to pick up a nearby extension to listen in and told Connie she'd meet up with her in her apartment in Chinatown as fast as she and Matt could drive there.

It turned out not to be fast enough. She found Connie lying dead on the floor of her apartment dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.

The assassin had been on his way out when he confronted them and Matt took off after him. She knelt beside Connie though she knew it was too late. Her friend's hand felt cool and limp already in her own…and blood had pooled by her body.

What in the hell had just happened? Connie was a museum curator…hardly a profession that attracted danger to its doorstep. From what it looked like, she'd been taken out by a professional, not some random hit as might happen with a robbery.

She remembered the day she'd met Connie Ling on the first day both had been freshmen and met in the college dormitory. They were assigned to room together and became fast friends even though their fields of study differed.

Matt dashed up the steps and saw her bent beside her friend's body. She stood up and turned around to face him.

"Did you catch him?"

He looked winded and he nodded.

"Shot him actually and the LAPD's going to be up here in a minute to ask me why."

She folded her arms.

"Why did he shoot her Houston? Did he tell you that?"

He shook his head.

"Is she…"

C.J. nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. Matt took the two, three steps towards her to wrap his arms around her and pull her close to him.

To say she was pissed off didn't even begin to describe it. Okay she had grown to like and trust Lt. Mike Hoyt but this was just bullshit. The police helped by some DEA agent were trying to make Connie Ling, museum curator of the Far East collection at the LAMOA look like a drug smuggler. A mule most likely, not someone with any real power within a larger drug trafficking organization.

Hoyt had shown up while Matt tried to comfort C.J. as she tried to make sense of a senseless murder. She just snapped back at him not wanting to hear any excuses or any signs of sympathy on whether or not the man who killed Connie would live or die.

Fortunately Matt wasn't hearing any of that either. When Hoyt reported to him that the assassin had a fifty/fifty chance of pulling through, he turned his head to look at him.

"That's more than he gave Connie Ling."

Carl had left a message for her at the office with still no news about how he did on the interview. She'd call him back later when she sat down and figured out what to do next. Her close friend had just been murdered after she'd asked her for help.

"I want to find out what happened Houston…I'm getting the feeling that the cops think she's the bad person here."

She remained more than determined after they met up with the DEA agent assigned to the case named Harry Carter who dropped the bombshell on them that Connie was actually smuggling drugs for the Chinese Triad gang operating out of Chinatown.

The one that Carter said he was so close to busting he could practically taste it. She and Matt knew that he wanted them to drop their interest in Connie's death.

Let the pros handle it, was his mantra just like Hoyt's. But C.J. wasn't having any of it even sitting through the home movie of Connie in a drug exchange in Hong Kong some weeks ago.

Something didn't smell right. Something downright stunk like a basket of day old fish. She knew Connie after all including her familial history. She told both Carter and Hoyt that they could show her all the evidence in the world and it wouldn't ever convince her of Connie's guilt.

She told that to Matt after the two men left and half expected him to talk her out of it. But he agreed to help her after asking her one question. Why was she so sure that Connie was innocent of smuggling drugs?

Because her own brother was a heroin junkie in and out of rehab more times than not and it killed Connie to see what his addiction did to him.

"500 dollars a day plus expenses," Matt quoted, "Where do you want to start?"

She smiled at him.

"At the scene of the crime," she said, "a great detective told me that once."

She and Matt took off to do just that.

Matt wanted to strangle the young strung out junkie in front of him. He'd tackled him to the ground after running into him in Connie Ling's apartment and it didn't take long for him to see the needle tracks on his arm.

"Sam what are you doing here?"

The young man looked up at C.J.

"I'm just here to crash. Connie lets me use her place. But there were a lot of cops here so I waited until they were gone."

The man sat on the couch and C.J. went to make him some coffee, something her friend had done for him. Matt still just wanted to throttle him, he had no pity for men like him. He'd fought his own demons in life including watching his cousin get blown up in front of him. He never became a drunk or a druggie. Hell, his father, his biological father, he'd met and fought with and watched die in front of him in about 24 hours…he just had other ways of coping.

C.J. returned with the coffee and the man took it from her with shaking hands. She'd wanted to know the truth, did Connie engage in drug smuggling?

His response broke her heart. He said yes she did do it for Soo Chin the most feared leader of the Triad in Chinatown.

"Oh Sam why?"

He explained that it all started after she'd been helping him to dry out and they'd fought over it…then suddenly out of nowhere she got a mysterious phone call.

Matt wondered if it was from the DEA. He was beginning to understand how this had gone down. They left Sam and headed back to the penthouse suite to hit up Baby for more information.

"If I could come to L.A. now I'd be on the first plane…"

C.J. sighed.

"I know that Carl and there's really nothing you can do. Houston and I are trying to find out who killed her."

"Tell me it's not about to get really dangerous for you…"

She knew that Carl worried about what might happen to her even after she'd shown off some of her skills. So much like a man but she really cared about him…she might even…no it was too early to say the words even to herself.

"Then I won't Carl…you know this is what I do but Houston and I…we take every precaution…"

"I don't want anything to happen to you," Carl said, "I've grown pretty fond of you."

She smiled when he said that because the feeling was definitely mutual.

"Just call me back when you get the news okay? I'd really love it if we could get together more often."

"Sure thing…be safe."

She hung up the phone. Carl had always been concerned for her since he discovered that as a lawyer she spent more time in the field working with Matt on cases than in the office or the courtroom. Matt walked into the room.

"He get the interview?"

She shrugged.

"He doesn't know yet…so what are we doing next Houston?"

He sat across from her.

"We got to go back to Connie's and search whether or not she had any contact with the Triad or any drug smugglers."

She smoothed her hair back with a hand.

"Well the police have combed that place I'm sure so what makes you think we'll find anyone?"

"We'll see when we get there."

She nodded and got off the couch. They took off towards the elevator, with his arm slung around her waist. Matt had always been a hands on guy which meant that he liked physical contact especially with women…even his friends. She'd gotten more than used to it…they were best friends after all. Of course there had been that one night when they'd done a lot of feeling and touching but that was years ago and it'd been filed away by both of them. Someplace deep where they didn't even talk about it…but she'd wondered.

They took off in his Mercedes and though she always liked it, she could tell it clearly missed Slim's smooth touch. She'd gotten a postcard from her that she'd gotten pregnant with her first child over in Hawaii. Mama Novelli was feeding her and giving her advice throughout it. C.J. missed both of them so much.

They hit Connie's apartment and walked hand in hand inside finding that the police had returned. Sam had taken off, probably gone underground from the Triad and the cops and she started wondering if they'd ever be able to prove that Connie wasn't a drug smuggler.

"I know she must have had a reason Houston…She just wasn't that kind of person."

Matt was looking through some papers on the coffee table that looked like customs documents on some artwork that wound up being sold off to another museum in San Francisco.

"I'm guessing she's doing some work for the DEA and either Carter doesn't know about it or he's not talking."

C.J. put a hand on her hip.

"Which is it? Houston I don't like the guy and I don't trust him."

He sighed.

"Makes two of us. Moment he told us to back off I didn't trust him."

She smiled at him. Then they kept searching until they decided that they had to check her phone records. C.J. found them conveniently kept together inside a rollover desk and handed them to Matt. He thumbed through them.

"We'll have to go through them back at the office," he said, "I see your phone number here but don't recognize the rest."

She nodded and they went outside back to his car parked on the street. They had to find the answers they were looking for to clear her friend's name and bring in her killer. She wouldn't stop searching until they did and…

Suddenly Matt grabbed her and pushed her on the ground, rolling her over several times. She felt like she'd gotten slammed and didn't know how…but everything suddenly went dark.

* * *

Matt felt like he was inside his own personal hell. He stood in his least favorite place, the inside of a waiting room of a hospital. This one Wilshire Memorial hospital after having followed an ambulance here. He'd met up with it just as they got C.J. out of it on a stretcher and rolled her inside the building. The doctors and nurses started working on her right away, jabbering about how she needed to be inside the OR Stat something about losing a lot of blood. But Matt knew all that he'd seen the pool of it on a sidewalk back in Chinatown.

He couldn't stand still, feeling his heart race and his palms sweat. The doctor a man named Doug Peters had physically blocked him from following the team inside a pair of doors.

"This is as far as you go."

He stood there as she disappeared. Damn, he didn't know if that's the last time he'd ever see his best friend alive. It'd just happened so fast. They'd been walking to the car and suddenly he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. He'd looked up to see the dark sedan driving towards them and he saw the reflection of the gun.

Pushing C.J. down had seemed to do the trick but when she didn't respond after the danger had passed, he'd moved her and there'd been blood all over the front of her blouse. It'd taken several frantic requests from a congregating crowd to get someone to go in a business and call the ambulance. It hadn't looked good from the start.

He leaned against the wall near the double doors praying which he rarely did. Bargaining with whatever god listened to spare his best friend. He'd be lost without her and just imagining a world without her in it ripped him apart. He'd lost his father…not the one who raised him but the one who'd sired him just when he'd found what he didn't know had been missing. The man had saved his life without being asked and had died in his arms.

C.J. had helped him make arrangements to bury him back in the family plot in Texas without asking questions. Now if things went even more horribly wrong, he'd be burying her. The thought shut his eyes and tears began to slip out of them. He brushed them back, she didn't need them right now, she needed his prayers.

"Houston…"

He looked up and saw Two Mean walking towards him, concern etched on his face.

"I heard…from Chris back at the office. How's C.J.?"

Matt just looked at his friend. The man who'd been a close friend to both of them since they met up with him while helping clear Randy of murder.

"There's no word."

Two Mean rested a hand on his shoulder.

"There's a waiting room and some bad coffee," he said, "We'll wait together."

Matt followed him numbly to go sit in some faded chairs in an empty room. Casualties must be light today and yet…his friend hadn't been spared.

"Who's the bastard who did it?"

Matt looked up to see anger in his friend's eyes. It mirrored his own and he knew the ex-football player wanted to take the assassins out as much as he did…but all he'd seen was the car and an Asian looking man with a gun in the passenger window.

A split second then his attention had been focused on protecting his friend.

"I think it's the Triad. But I'm not sure. The police won't say anything."

Too Mean digested that.

"I'd heard on the street that their leader Soo Chin hit some snag with his latest heroin shipment," he said, "I got my sources working on it. But it's at least $20 million worth Houston."

"That's a lot…you think someone intercepted it?"

"Possible…Maybe C.J.'s friend was involved or knew about it," Too Mean said, "Can't be a coincidence she got shot just about 24 hours after you started looking into Connie's death."

"No it's not. If I'd known this would happen…"

"Houston you can't blame yourself. The Triad felt it had to take care of business and went after you."

"I know but I don't get why…why would they go through the trouble of murdering two people on a city street?"

Too Mean shrugged.

"They know a lot of people in Chinatown are too scared of them to talk. That's why you had over a dozen people watching and no one saw a thing."

Matt had been frustrated that none of the people who crowded around C.J.'s body would even talk to police about what they saw. The attack had been so damn brazen…how did a gang of thugs get to be that way? He knew Too Mean was right about the fear and intimidation angles. Matt had seen that before in street gangs and more sophisticated organized criminals.

Too Mean went to use the phone and returned with the news that yes, the heroin didn't show up on the streets for sale. That the addicts who usually bought it were growing restless.

"That doesn't leave us much time."

Matt's frustration and worry had drained his energy. It'd been several hours since C.J. had disappeared behind those double doors and no word yet on her condition. That meant she hadn't died but…he'd been thinking a lot about the years they spent together…images flashing in front of him in no particular order. Back when they met on a school yard in elementary school…riding the range of his daddy's ranch in junior high…going to high school and afterward.

One special night they'd spent together after he won that poker game. He hadn't thought about that in a while. He knew she'd put that night behind him…obviously much more easily than he had done. The softness of her skin beneath his fingers…the taste of her mouth and the way their bodies molded together just perfectly as if…he put his coffee cup down and focused on watching Too Mean sitting down again to keep waiting.

The endless wait. What could be taking the surgeons so long? Would they be able to save her? At some point someone wearing blue would come through the door and give him the outcome. He'd braced himself for the worst news of his life in a life that'd seen him find and lose a father, watch his cousin get blown to bits in front of him.

"Too Mean…"

"She's going to make it Houston…she's one tough girl."

Matt knew that but why wasn't the surgeon come to report her condition? The memories kept hitting him relentlessly like the tide coming in against the shore of an ocean. He couldn't stop them and he didn't want to do that.

Carl came to mind and he wondered if he should call her boyfriend but decided to wait. The man would surely come after him…he'd known from the time that C.J. came back from that Mexican trip that she'd found someone very special.

Suddenly the doors opened and Dr. Peters, his mask off his face walked into the waiting room. Matt got up to talk with him.

"How is she?"

Dr. Peters smiled.

"She's going to make it. You got lucky."

"Can I see her?"

The surgeon nodded.

"For just a minute…she needs her rest."

That was all the news that Matt needed to hear to make his world right again. He slapped Too Mean on the shoulder and followed the doctor into ICU.

She looked so pale and weak lying in bed hooked up to all kinds of equipment keeping her alive. But her eyes opened when he sat down and took her hand in both of his own, rubbing it.

"Hiya Boss."

Her voice sounded so faint, but she did smile at him.

"Hiya C.J."

Her smile widened until she winced. He began stroking her neck and she relaxed.

"Hurts?"

She tried to shrug but that didn't quite work.

"I'm sorry Houston…"

He furrowed his brow, seeing the look of concern on her face.

"What you got to be sorry about?"

"That I got you so worried. I heard it was touch and go for a while."

It had been and he'd been through the most harrowing few hours of his life, but he didn't want to think about that right now.

"I did say a prayer or two. How you feeling now?"

She smiled at him again.

"Better now that I'm looking at my favorite face in the whole world."

He smiled at that. That went double for him.

It hadn't taken long for his friend to send him back to the office. She might be in pain from being nearly split open but she wanted Connie's killer nailed. So he and Too Mean went back to the penthouse suite and started letting their fingers do the walking.

Calling every number save C.J.'s or the office's on the phone list. Chris had made sure they had plenty of coffee because it made a long night.

"I'm going to find the killer and I'm going to make them pay."

Too Mean looked up.

"You going to take on the whole Triad?"

"If that's what it takes. No one messes with her and will ever get away with it."

He meant it too. He knew if he ever caught up with Connie's killer, he'd be hard pressed not to shoot him dead right there. Whoever killed Connie had just tried to take down C.J. and there's just some things you didn't do in Matt's world.

Matt did catch up with the man who did both in a warehouse and he had the man standing in front of him. He'd whacked him around a bit just trying to catch him. Until he chased him outside to where the cops finally pulled up to arrest the DEA agent who tried to run off with the heroin. Carter had stolen it from under Connie who'd been working for his bosses all along. Then he tried to turn around and sell it to the Triad.

Now Matt knew that by going after Carter he'd probably be saving him from being taken out by the Triad later on because he knew that a man like Soo Chin could never let him live. He'd thought about letting the natural order take its course but…then he decided he wanted a piece of the man himself.

"Houston…he's going away for a long, long time…let us handle it."

Matt had been about to acquiesce but the way Carter looked at him so smug and too confident he'd squeeze himself out of his current crisis…well his fist started flying until the man fell to the ground with a thud, completely out cold.

It made his knuckles hurt something awful but you just didn't mess around with his best friend.

* * *

C.J. sat up in bed, wearing her favorite blue robe looking at that best friend. She'd been asleep when he'd walked in with the latest batch of gifts. He'd filled her hospital room already with flowers, stuffed animals and other presents and now he stood in front of her with the ear of a stuffed hippo in between his teeth.

Busted.

She'd been a bit frantic about all the things that she'd left undone at the office, the paperwork, the court cases…she'd been in the hospital for nearly a week and had two days left to go before they sprung her loose.

"Houston I want out now."

"You got to get your rest," he said, "Besides Chris, Too Mean and I have been holding down the fort."

"So what you're saying is you don't need me around anymore?"

"Sure I am…but it'll be nice to have you back."

She grinned ear to ear.

"It's nice to be wanted…"

He thought she looked so damn beautiful and her vibrant self right now…so much better than the alternative. After hearing she'd live, he'd said tons of prayers of thanks and now…he bent to kiss her.

On the cheek. He knew Carl who'd be in visiting his girlfriend in the next hour wouldn't fancy her being kissed any other way. Matt had finally met him and had found himself liking the man especially when he found out he'd played quarterback himself when he'd been younger.

But as he looked at the woman in front of him, he knew that life couldn't get much better than right now.


	21. Chapter 21

C.J. had often thought about having children of her own. Not seriously like she was going to go out and do it tomorrow. She was still young enough after all to put it off until she found that person she wanted to share that experience with…get married and raise a family together. She hadn't been close…well that wasn't exactly true. There'd been that one time when she'd been much younger but she didn't want to go there.

She'd doubted Matt had been looking for that in the women he dated…since he didn't take the whole thing seriously. But it was different for guys like him. They could sire children in their eighties if they chose whereas women, the window of opportunity was much shorter.

She sat in the office catching up on some paperwork while Matt had yet to come to the office. She knew that he'd taken Cynthia the daughter of a prominent senator out clubbing last night.

So it might it might be noon by the time he finally dropped in.

Chris poked her head in the office.

"You want some coffee…I'm going to pick up a latte at that new place down the street."

"Sure…I just got to finish up some court papers here."

Then the phone rang and when she saw who it was, she answered it immediately.

* * *

Matt pulled his car into the parking lot. He'd been out late last night with Cynthia but hadn't spent the night at her place. The paparazzi had been following them so he'd left her at her house. He didn't know if they'd be going out again soon. He'd met her through his involvement in the charity organization that was building the new wing at Wilshire Memorial…which he chose due to all the time he'd spent there in the ER or as a patient. Besides, after they'd taken such good care of his best friend C.J. there a month ago…he figured he owed them.

She'd come back to work as if she never left and wanted to be out in the field with him. He remanded her to office duty with some protest for the past few weeks until the doctor cleared her for more activity.

"Be careful. I don't want to see either of you again."

Those had been Dr. Peters' closing words when C.J. had been wheeled out of the hospital to go home to finish recuperating. She'd gone back into training with Too Mean soon enough to regain any edge she felt she might have lost and the former football player turned bodyguard told him that she'd kicked his ass on the mat soon enough.

She was one tough woman…but then Matt thought, tell me something I don't know. Still she had to wait to go back on active duty on case. Carl had fussed over his girlfriend too until he had to fly back to Chicago. He'd gotten all the way to the final round for the position at Caltech but he still had to finish up his projects over a thousand miles east of them. He did know better than to try to tell C.J. what to do…she'd put him in his place well enough if he tried that.

He took the elevator up the stairs and saw C.J. eating a Danish by the bar. She smiled at him.

"You got here…"

He walked over to her to pour himself some coffee.

"Yes I did…didn't oversleep either."

She nodded approvingly.

"How's Cynthia doing?"

"She's at home. I crashed as soon as I got to my place after dropping her off."

She arched her brows at him.

"You didn't invite her in for a drink?"

He shook his head.

"Turned in early…got that conference call with Murray and the head of that pharmaceutical company this morning."

"Ah that…I wish I could help you," she said, "I left some specs for you on your desk."

"Thanks…"

She went back to her office and he watched her go. He'd promised Carl that he'd keep an eye on the girlfriend. As her best friend who had no designs on her whatsoever, he was obviously trustworthy…though Carl wasn't the jealous type. He knew that C.J. only had eyes for him…but Matt hoped he knew how lucky he was to have a woman like her.

C.J. was the complete package. Beauty, brains, just enough brawn to take care of herself and a heart so big…well the best friend a person could ever have and…though his one night he'd spent with her didn't make him an authority…well he really shouldn't be thinking about that part of it right now.

The past was the past…best leave it there after all. It wasn't something a guy quickly forgot.

Then the phone rang.

Matt called C.J. over to listen to the disturbing message on the answering machine from a young girl named Marcie. She'd been looking for her younger sister Butterfly who'd been snatched from her. She knew who did it too.

A man named "St. Nick" had been responsible. C.J had been putting some time in at a women's crisis center during her free time.

"He's a pimp Houston…specializes in younger girls."

"What's his real name…when he's not ripping off Santa Claus."

She shrugged.

"Don't know. No one knows who he really is…though there's rumors that there's someone in a position of power involved…and a lot of secrecy around him."

"I guess we'd better go find her."

"I've just faxed the notes to Murray on the merger so I'll be ready…"

He looked at her carefully.

"You sure?"

She rolled her eyes at the man.

"I'm sure…Too Mean told you I just handed his ass back to him on a platter didn't he? Houston I'm ready to go back out there."

"But…"

She put a hand up.

"No buts Houston…or I'll hand your ass back to you on a plate…got it?"

He nodded.

"Then let's get a move on okay?"

They left the penthouse suite to go look for their new client.

* * *

Marcia looked younger than her 16 years…and she didn't stop moving for an instant. Matt had tried to get her settled in the office but all she could talk about was how "St. Nick" had gotten her hands on her sister and how she had to find her quick.

They'd been on the run for two years running away from a stepfather who couldn't keep his own hands to himself. Their mother had been too into her new husband and what he could do for her to stop him from trying to molest her daughters. So Marcia and Butterfly had split one night.

"I almost did the same thing once Houston…when I was in foster care."

She'd been a ward of the state for not so long but she'd done time with three families. One of which had been headed by a man who made her uncomfortable the whole time she was there. He hadn't known that but then she didn't talk about it much. Just that she had a father who died when she'd been young in a car bomb explosion related to his job and a mother who died mostly of a broken heart within a year. There'd been several years between that and being placed with an uncle who lived next to the ranch owned by Matt's daddy.

"What'd you do?"

Matt knew what he would have done if he'd known about it then…or even knew her. But they'd met up later and had become fast friends.

"I was going to run Houston…had a bag packed underneath the bed but then his wife called to have me taken away…said I was too friendly with her husband and she couldn't trust me. Nothing about what he was doing."

He just listened to her until Marcie came back after cleaning up from downstairs.

"So how am I going to find her? How am I going to find my sister before it's too late?"

Matt and C.J. looked at each other. They still had no idea who the pimp really was and that any searches so far had resulted in dead ends. They needed to find "St. Nick" before locating Butterfly.

"I got to go out and look for her now."

Matt and C.J. had been on Baby looking for viable suspects. But didn't find out very much.

"He's going to give her off to some politician…a senator…if no one stops him. She's just 14."

That filled both Matt and C.J. with disgust. A man like that…who used his position…well Matt could think of a half dozen things to do with him none of them legal. He had to focus on finding Butterfly and getting her away from St. Nick.

But first things first.

"Did you go to the police?"

The girl just stared at him.

"You're kidding right…"

He sighed.

"No I'm not…they're the ones best equipped to help you. If it helps, I know a lieutenant there who can help you."

She shook her head at him.

"They won't help and if I go to them, they'll lock me up for hooking. The pimps are untouchables…they're too busy putting us girls into jail instead."

"Lt. Hoyt's not like that…he'll help you."

She just didn't seem interested.

"No thanks…look if you can't help me. I'll go get her myself."

He shook his head.

"It's too dangerous…"

She didn't look too afraid.

"I know and my little sister's in the middle of it. I got to help her. Someone's got to help her and I hoped that'd be you… I read the rag that called you sexiest…"

C.J. finished it for him.

"The PEOPLE one…sexiest millionaire/investigator."

Marcia nodded.

"Yeah…I don't care about all that. Men are creeps…all of them but I want to hire you to find her. I don't got much money but I'm good for it in other ways."

"I'm not interested in those other ways Marcia. You just let me handle that part of it okay? Just focus on telling me how I might find her."

It hadn't worked out that way after all. Marcia had gotten scared and bolted. In fact, she'd hotwired his car and drove off on it. He'd reported it stolen but told Hoyt to have the police go easy on her. All she wanted to do was find Butterfly.

So did he and C.J. But they had no idea where to start looking. So they went down to the garage to his fleet of cars, picked one out, got into it and started driving around L.A.

Needle in a haystack. As it turned out more than one needle.

* * *

Matt had felt like a failure only several times in his life. Where his best hadn't been nearly good enough and this was one of them. The police had found his stolen car with Marcia inside of it.

Only she was deceased as the coroner put it, most likely another homicide from the Sunset strip. He and C.J. had gone to claim her body. Her parents sure hadn't done that. She'd looked so young, like the child she still was, laying under a white sheet on the steel table.

"We'll pay for her burial," Matt said, "if she needs a plot, got a family one back in Texas."

C.J. nodded.

"I'll untangle any bureaucracy," she said, "Plus I know someone in the ME's office."

Hoyt walked up behind them, his face etched with concern. Even a seasoned officer who'd seen everything couldn't help but be affected by the sight in front of him.

"I'll clear the path but we still got to find next of kin and notify them first."

Matt sighed.

"If they even bother to respond," he said, "Marcia told us the stepfather abused her and her sister."

Hoyt nodded.

"That's why so many girls wind up on the streets with creeps like this "St. Nick" in the first place."

"Any word on an ID?"

Hoyt shook his head.

"I'd hoped to ask Marcia that when we caught up with her but someone made sure she couldn't tell anyone anything."

C.J. couldn't take her eyes off of the young girl.

"She didn't seem to know when she talked to us. He might be someone in a position of importance or with money…enough to conceal his illegal trades."

Matt sighed.

"We've got to find him so we can Butterfly. Marcia died trying to protect her little sister. It's up to us to make sure she succeeds."

"Houston…"

He shook his head.

"No Hoyt…she's our client. That didn't stop because she was murdered."

The lieutenant looked at C.J. but she didn't give him an inch either.

"I'm with him."

Hoyt shook his head.

"C.J. you just got shot not too long ago."

She smiled.

"I'm back now…and the flowers were really nice."

* * *

They did rescue Butterfly, a young girl with thick brunette hair and a heart shaped face. She of course got her heart broken upon hearing about the death of her older sister. Matt and C.J. vowed to go after her killer and the men who'd kidnapped Butterfly and put them away forever.

A male prostitute who knew Marcia had come forward but was scared to death that he'd be next on the hit list. He'd had some information on St. Nick but Matt still felt stymied as he went out to investigate the new leads.

C.J. spent time with Butterfly who was under guard by a security detail provided by a subsidiary of Matt's empire. She ate some dinner and then was tucked into bed by the lawyer. She didn't seem eager to fall asleep right away…too much sorrow about what had happened to Marcia.

"She took care of me…even though they said she was a hooker."

A loaded word to come out of such a young girl's mouth. C.J. didn't know how to do anything like tread cautiously with Butterfly about her sister's life and then death.

"C.J. do hookers go to question?"

She just looked at the expectant expression on Butterfly's face and knew that question's answer stood between their client and a good night's sleep and probably something more long-term than that.

"That's a tough question. Let me rephrase it another way. Do girls who love their younger sisters to the point where they'll do anything to protect them go to heaven?"

Butterfly reached her and hugged her so tightly, crying into her chest. C.J. just held the younger girl who had been through so much so young. She knew what it'd been like not to have her parents able to take care of her…to have that left on others who perhaps didn't welcome the responsibility.

At least working with Matt on his father's ranch had kept her grounded even while living with an uncle she barely saw. Life could have so easily gone so much worse for her than what she faced…she could have wound up like Butterfly and her sister.

After she settled the young girl down to sleep for a while, she went to pour herself some Scotch. Some cases more than others just hit too close to home for her and this was one of them.

Matt came across her drinking the Scotch. He had actually overheard her conversation with Butterfly but hadn't interfered or let on. He'd just gone upstairs to deal with some business that Murray had sent him that just needed his signature. His hunt for St. Nick had been fruitless and the male prostitute…he'd been more scared than anything else and now turned up missing.

Like so many kids in his situation. Matt had known that this reality had existed buried somewhere unseen from the wealth and power of the upper echelons of society in L.A. But to have to stare him in the face while hunting down the elusive killer of now two young teens had sickened him to the point where he wanted to beat someone's head in…St. Nick and the state senator who'd purchased Butterfly for his own use.

"You want a glass?"

C.J. had poured him some Scotch already and handed it to him. He sipped it gratefully while thinking of his next move.

"I think I might know the senator…have a name," he said, "I could try to find St. Nick on that end of it."

She nodded.

"That could work…so who's the pedophile in the Senate?"

Matt named him. C.J. winced.

"Doesn't he have a daughter named Cynthia?"

Yeah he knew that already, as he nodded.

"I doubt she knows that side of her father," he said, "but she will soon enough."

C.J. refilled her glass.

"There's no word on the parents," she said, "They should know by now unless they're under a rock. I just can't understand why they don't come forward."

Matt shook his head.

"Maybe the stepfather doesn't want to be exposed for what he really is C.J."

She stared at her glass.

"Yeah…maybe…"

He sighed.

"Not everyone's fit to be a parent."

After all, he'd met his own biological father within hours of the man's death. The man whose wife had died not long after birthing him, the tragedy driving him to the bottle and a nervous breakdown. Bill had taken in Matt as a baby and if it hadn't been for him…Matt just closed his eyes because there's so few people he told this story to…keeping it in the family.

But looking at C.J. he didn't want to keep anything from her so when the time was right…he'd sit down and tell her.

Butterfly looked so pretty in her brand new gingham dress and bows in her long hair. New shoes on her feet and a teddy bear given to her by her social worker. Her parents had surfaced but the mother said she'd feel better if someone else raised her surviving daughter. They did take Marcia back for burial after a funeral service at St. Brenden's.

Chris and the social worker had tried to find a foster family to raise Butterfly and did one better. A nice couple with a young daughter wanted to adopt her and give her a forever home. After the background checks, examinations and interviews, they were approved for a tentative adoption for a year before it'd be finalized.

But C.J. and Matt knew the young girl had found her parents. They'd hugged and kissed her goodbye telling her to keep in touch or that they were only a phone call away. After she'd gone with the social worker to meet her new parents, they both felt the emptiness right away.

"I'll miss her Houston…"

"So will I…"

She'd left for the airport to meet Carl who'd be flying in to see her for the weekend and Matt decided to invite his father for a weekend of fishing and hiking up in Pinewood. They'd not seen each other in a while and more than anything right now, he wanted to spend time with his daddy.

He'd already buried the one who'd sired him and then showed up in time to save him. But Bill, the one who had taken him in and raised him, he would always be his father.


	22. Chapter 22

When Matt met Andrea Flynn, he knew she was special. Okay, maybe not the first time but soon after that. She'd shown up and spun up that theory that some concert pianist with a huge fan following had a side much darker than his music.

She'd been blonde and Matt loved blondes from ash, to honey colored and everything in between. Not that he didn't love brunettes and redheads, but C.J. and Chris had a discussion over margaritas at Antonio's that he'd wind up walking the aisle someday with a blonde. When Matt had gotten wind of that conversation, he just smiled. He'd get married in his own sweet time and he was going to pick the right woman, the perfect woman. She'd be stunning of course to look at no matter the hair color, perfectly built in all the right places, some smarts and a sense of sophistication meaning how to adapt to the many situations that sprung up because he'd chosen to be a private investigator.

He might be late home from his job, or out all night on a surveillance job or had to leave town to take on a case overseas. All at a moment's notice. His future woman and wife, she'd have to roll with the punches including the ones he'd taken literally yet have her own life, a side of her that didn't involve him.

Matt didn't know if Andrea fit that bill or not, but he did like her. She was a detective with LAPD who'd worked under Hoyt before his promotion to lieutenant. She'd worked hard in a job that had demands similar to his own and even though they clashed over the current case, they'd make a good team if they started working together.

They both stalked a killer who stalked women who just happened to be blond, killed over a dozen of them and she'd been so convinced it'd been the maestro of music, Clark Sawyer. But he wasn't so sure.

"Houston just listen to reason," Andrea told him over coffee, "It has to be him…I've been tracking this killer for so long…"

He knew she ate, drank and slept it and she'd admitted that she'd lost a man she'd been dating due to her obsession with it.

In the end, they solved the case and realized that its end didn't leave them wanting to go their separate ways. He invited her over for drink at the penthouse suite and they started kissing on the couch before the second glass of Scotch.

The third took them to bed and after they woke up in each other's arms the following morning, they'd planned to get aboard his yacht and travel to Tahiti where they'd stay in a bungalow and forget the rest of the world for a while.

But then reality set in and she didn't show up at his house in Malibu with a suitcase packed, she showed up with news that she'd been picked to attend a three month training program at the FBI Academy in Quantico. Mostly in learning new techniques of interrogation.

* * *

Leaving the day after tomorrow…which didn't leave them much time to say goodbye. He headed to the office instead and ran into C.J. who'd been talking to her mentor F. Lee Bailey.

"I got myself a new client," he said, "You've been following that murder case of those four teens in Lake Etaa haven't you?"

She nodded.

"It's the only thing on the news right now. Said they finally caught the man who did it. Some petty thief…don't tell me you're his new lawyer."

Bailey smiled.

"Took the case…the evidence is weak. But I just found out I have to go to trial on another case and so I won't be able to make it there for the arraignment."

C.J. folded her arms.

"That's a dilemma but surely there's someone in your office who can handle it."

He hedged.

"I don't want just anyone…it's a pretty straight forward arraignment…just enter a plea of not guilty for him to the judge and try for bail. I doubt the judge will grant it but then he'll set a prelim hearing date and that stage will be done."

C.J. shot him a smile.

"You looking to ask me to do it?"

"Would you? You're the best clerk I ever had in my office…"

Matt widened his eyes.

"She interned in your office?"

Bailey nodded.

"Sure did and like I said, though she had a propensity to smile too much, best clerk I ever had work for me."

C.J. beamed from the praise from one of the most famous criminal defense attorneys in the industry. But…that had never been her area of expertise.

"F. Lee…I've only done a smattering of criminal law since…I do corporate now."

That didn't seem to worry her mentor.

"You can handle a straight forward guilty plea can't you?

She nodded.

"Sure can…I'll do it. It'll be nice to get out of the office and spend some time in a small town in the country."

F. Lee Bailey smiled.

"I'll brief you on the case but like I said, there's nothing to it…"

* * *

C.J. reached for the phone still coughing from the smoke that had filled the hotel room. God, she'd just been sitting on the bed in her robe reading one of the police reports involving her client, Roy Turner. Just the name made her tense up as she remembered what had happened earlier that day.

Far from being an easy arraignment, Roy had turned out to be not only a sociopathic personality but one with a huge dose of narcissism injected in it. He'd thrived in all the attention he'd received as the prime suspect in the multiple murders. So naturally he decided to confess. She didn't know if he'd actually committed the crimes though he seemed psychopathic enough, she didn't even care. She'd failed in what she set out to do which was to help out an old mentor and perhaps just to impress him a little bit with her criminal law skills as well.

She never worked on them much. She'd done her stint with him and after graduating from Harvard, she'd gone to Houston to work in the public defender's office. Robert Tyler who'd come back from a sojourn in South American to take a reporting job at the _Houston Tribune_. They'd met up over margaritas and he'd talked a lot about himself mostly about how print journalism was beneath these amazing talents he had but he had to make his mark there before moving up to television and its Holy Grail which was a leading anchor position on one of the top ten markets for a network.

He'd wanted to slip between the sheets with her more than once…but then Robert had always been such a flirt…silver tongued and smooth and she always saw through guys like him. Julie who'd been coming off Chemo in Austin where she lived with an aunt had encouraged her to give criminal law a try now that their dreams of starting a law firm together had ended with Julia's untimely cancer diagnosis.

But damn, if this Roy Turner wasn't enough to drive her back to corporate and contract law, well…she'd needed to shower the grime off of her not just from her long drive from L.A. but from just being in the same room as him. She'd ordered in a pizza not wanting to go out and risk running into any of the angry town residents who'd tried to crowd around her at the courthouse. The news on television had been filled with coverage including speculation about Turner's confession. She switched the station and found an old film about some fiery detective on a serial murder case of women who'd just flipped off her boss.

Damn that Fontain if she could just have a dose of her vinegar. But no, she had to be dressed up to the neck in conservative dress suits and style her hair just so, all the makeup to make a strong impression as a woman in a profession still dominated by men.

But then….BOOM! The glass shattered, something fell on the floor next to her sputtering and then the rug went up in flames. She had to go get something right quick to put out the fire before the whole room went up in smoke.

She managed to do that, she always acted quick in a crisis and then she'd run to what was left of the window and saw a vehicle, heard the squeal of acceleration as it took off out of the parking lot.

Molotov cocktails had been something that Bailey had left out of his briefing on this oh so easy and very routine case he'd handed off to her. Yeah she'd told Matt just earlier that when she talked on the phone that she'd be able to handle it. After all, she was the one with the law degree right?

But now she saw the phone sitting there miraculously unscathed by the bombing and reached for it.

* * *

Matt had decided to spend the night at the office, so after sitting a spell in his Jacuzzi, he grabbed his robe and went to go pour himself a Scotch.

The first of several he'd been drinking. Andrea had said she'd fly in for a few days on a break from her training at Quantico but she'd bailed on him. That left him with time to fill in his schedule. They weren't seriously going out so his Rolodex awaited. Everyone in it from Abigail in accounting to Zelda the belly dancer he'd met long after the case involving the murdered food critic a while back.

Somehow he didn't feel up to it. Maybe he'd kick back with a good Zane Grey book. He'd thought about calling C.J. at the number she gave him for the motel but he'd just talked to her earlier and she'd told him not to worry about her. She was the expert in criminal law not him and he'd hung up knowing that she'd had an edge in her voice when she'd pointed that out. He didn't know what'd gotten into his best friend.

The phone rang and he went to pick it up thinking it might be Andrea checking up on him after nixing on her trip back to L.A. But he heard someone coughing on the other end of the line and suddenly…well he knew who had called him. Didn't know how he knew or could put it into words but he just had sharp instincts when it came to his family and friends.

Especially the women who was both.

"C.J."

"Houston?"

Cough, cough and his last name. Something was definitely going on here.

"You okay C.J.?"

A pause…then she tried to reassure him.

"Yeah…I'm fine…I just walked into the middle of Lake Etaa Molotov Cocktail Hour."

That didn't sound good to him. He wondered if he had his suitcase here or he'd have to go back to his bachelor pad in Malibu to pack. Oh wait, he always kept a bag packed here for emergencies. But wait, what if she didn't want him to rush up there to help her?

"You sure you're okay because I can…"

He thought she might cut him off at the quick and say, no thanks but she didn't need his help.

"Well…Houston…if you feel like taking a little rustic vacation…I suppose that'd be okay."

He sighed in relief. Because damn it, if he'd sit back in L.A. in his bathrobe and let anything happen to his best friend from some lynch mob. Damn that F. Lee whoever for putting her in danger like that. He was going to have a word with him…but wait, he had to get his packed bag, gas up his Mercedes convertible and drive on out there.

"I'll be there in the morning…"

"That's be good Houston…"

He heard the relief in her voice and looked down at his Scotch glass. He poured it out and went to get his bag. He'd have to call Murray Chase because he might need his help…oh and if he could make Baby the supercomputer more portable…he ticked off items on the list inside his head as he got ready for his road trip to some small town with crazy people running around trying to harm his C.J.

* * *

Matt complained when she cleaned up some abrasions he'd gotten on his back from when they'd barely fled a car that had gone up like a torch. It hadn't been Matt's prized Mercedes, or hers. It had been Murray's pride and joy that they'd borrowed to go out to do some investigating for what Matt quoted, $500 a day plus expenses. They'd run into the furious town folk again who'd come after them a couple times. C.J felt like she and Matt were the last normal survivors in a town dominated by flesh eating zombies like in _Night of the Living Dead_.

It had started simple enough with Murray giving them some great news that medical records indicated that their star client who'd confessed to multiple homicides suffered from emphysema. Not enough to kill him but to make it doubtful that he could chase down four healthy teens and kill them one by one. Then right after she'd hired Matt, they'd done as she asked which was go to the scene of the crime.

So they went to the grassy meadow by the lake where they soon found out they weren't alone. Matt had told her to go to the car, he'd handle the group of angry parents. She rolled her eyes, thinking he'd been acting like the man but seeing the angry glint in their eyes she didn't argue.

He'd been dispatched quickly enough by a blow in the head and they'd followed her to the car where they quickly surrounded her.

She thought one of them might shoot her with a shotgun adding to the roster of dead in the small town but again, Matt had shown up just in time to save her. She'd just suggested to them that maybe they were after the wrong person and that'd set them off.

But she wondered as they drove off if among that cluster of grieving relatives, a murderer hid in plain sight. If so, which one of them had welded the knife?

Then later, they'd run into them again with bullets flying, the car going up in flames and the sheriff who'd hated her on sight when she arrived forced to save their lives They'd both been scraped up some so she'd gotten some antiseptic and ordered Matt to take off his shirt.

He obliged easily enough though he hated being babied.

"Ow…C.J. could you take it easy with the battery acid?"

She rolled her eyes for the second time that day and dabbed him on one of his shoulder blades with more medicine over an angry welt.

"I could take you to the Lake Etaa Medical Clinic and you can hope they'll actually treat you there…and as nicely as I'm doing."

His silence vetoed that and she returned to doing two things, putting medicine on his injuries and admiring his physique. It was impressive, even more so than when he'd been younger and she remembered keenly gliding her hands over it, relishing its smoothness. That'd been a passing thing of course never to be repeated.

"That feels…better."

She smiled and she rubbed his back to make sure his skin absorbed the medication. He sighed and a thought came to her mind.

"Houston?"

A delay in response.

"What?"

"Wasn't Andrea supposed to drop in L.A. this weekend?"

"Yeah…she was. We were going to spend a few days together before she started up her next phase."

She sighed.

"I'm sorry Houston. I completely forgot. I hope she was understanding. Look if there's anything I can do to make up for it. Talk to her…"

He cut her off.

"She canceled out on me C.J. Said she couldn't make it."

She frowned.

"What could be more important? I mean every woman needs a break now and then."

"I don't know…you have to ask her that."

The edge in his voice was unmistakable. It seemed that Matt cared an awful lot about the blonde perky detective.

"So what were you going to do if I hadn't called you?"

He didn't answer as her stroking of his skin turned into a massage without her thinking about it.

"You were going to hit the Rolodex weren't you?"

More edge.

"C.J. I don't have a Rolodex. Some tabloid made that up and it kind of snowballed."

She snorted.

"Sure you do. Chris and I checked it out a time or two when things got boring at the office."

He sighed, totally busted on that. But he arched a brow up at her.

"What about you? Don't you keep a handy list of men around just in case…"

She shook her head, her hands kneading his muscles in ways that made other parts of him feel good as well. Parts of him that really shouldn't be concerned with his business partner and friend right now.

"I'm with Carl now. You know that. He's got the job and he'll be transferring to the L.A. office."

He widened his eyes.

"You didn't tell me that."

"I don't tell you everything Houston," she said, "You know I'm excited about ditching this long-distance thing and having him in town but…"

"But what C.J.? Carl seems like a very nice guy."

"He is…but when he came back into my life again…we just clicked and everything's been going so well. Too well…but I figure that's because we don't see each other much…or all the time. What'll happen when we're in the same city?"

She seemed perturbed by the thought which he thought odd because she seemed to really like the man. He'd known the woman making him feel so fine right now since they'd been much younger and he'd never seen her react like this with any other man.

"I think you'll both be happier being closer together," he said, "You'll save money on plane fare."

She chuckled at that.

"You got a point. It's just always been that way with me and guys Houston. Some family stuff I think."

He understood all about family dynamics having a father who was often unavailable due to business travelling, a mother who died not long after his birth, a biological father who appeared long enough to save his life, a cousin who'd been blown up in front of him…an uncle who…

"Houston, you feeling better?"

He blinked his eyes looking at her.

"I do…and what about you? You got scraped up a bit too."

She shrugged.

"I'm a woman. I don't need to be coddled over a little broken skin."

His brows rose.

"Excuse me…I don't need to be coddled either."

She did something interesting then. She took a hand and caressed the bottom of his face, holding it briefly.

"Yes you do. And I need to do it. After all, you've come all this way to help me."

True, but he didn't need to be repaid for doing what came naturally to him. But he pushed the envelope a bit.

"What about Murray?"

She smiled.

"He was upset about the car Houston but he's out picking up a new one he hopes to be more of a chick magnet."

"A what?"

"Chick magnet. I think he wants to be like you."

He coughed.

"He does…after what happened tonight he might want to rethink that."

She chuckled.

"Not all of you just the part that's a hit with ladies."

"Oh that…it doesn't always work."

She smiled at him.

"Andrea's probably got a good reason for not coming to L.A.," she said, "I know she cares about you."

Matt knew C.J. was right and he had it pretty good with her working the knots out of his body from all that stress and he found his mind slipping back to the past when…but no he couldn't revisit the chapter that both had closed and put behind them.

* * *

Murray loved his new sports car with the muscle engine and way it hugged the curves when he hit the accelerator. He'd gone back to L.A. early while C.J. and Matt stayed to do the paperwork to get Roy Turner transferred to a county facility to do time on his petty crimes.

The real murderer Coach Jack Salinger was cooling his heels in lockup. The other parents shocked into retreating into their homes, thus breaking up their lynch mob. The truth proved often difficult to accept, C.J. thought as she and Matt enjoyed the ability to move about in public without getting threatened with shotguns or having their cars or hotels set afire.

The judge never apologized for the comments he'd made to C.J. and his obvious bias in the case. But she didn't push the issue, she just wanted to get out of there. Salinger needed a good lawyer and maybe Bailey would take his case.

If he did, she wanted no part of it not even for the upcoming arraignment. Salinger had been confronted by the fiancé of Linda after raping her one night. The other teens had been killed because they were walking on the lake shore and happened to witness the crime.

Salinger thought he'd had it all taken care of, he'd smoothed over his tracks but in reality, it had to be him. Only an athletic coach who kept himself as fit as his charges would have the speed and endurance to commit the heinous murders in rapid succession. It had always made more sense than a man with emphysema but no one in the tight knit town had wanted to look too closely at one of their own.

"You ready to go C.J.?"

She nodded and got up to meet him. He slid his arm around her in that comfortable way of his that she couldn't read too much into…they were buddies after all.

"Glad to put that one behind us huh?"

She shivered a bit before nodding again.

"Houston…it all makes sense now that Linda's fiancé would just have run off to confront the coach…never realizing he'd wind up murdered for it."

They'd looked into Salinger's background and had found two more hushed up allegations of rape, not to mention the disappearance of a pretty coed who'd been a cheerleader near a university he'd worked at before taking the job back home in Lake Etaa. Someone how the guy had avoided scrutiny for it.

* * *

C.J. picked up the phone and knew it was Carl. She lay back in her bed after having enjoyed a glass of wine on her back patio under the moonlight.

The city might be filled with craziness in its own way but small towns were not immune themselves.

"So what is my lady wearing right now…"

She described herself wearing something much different, much sexier than Carl's old football jersey and some pajama bottoms, thinking that maybe when he moved on over to L.A., she might just show up and surprise him.

God, it'd be so great now that they would be living within the same city limits.

* * *

Matt sighed as he fell back in the bed and Andrea nuzzled against him. They'd fallen into each other's arms when she'd met him at the airport in Baltimore and driven back to the apartment she'd sublet where she lived when not in training.

"God, I missed that," she said, "You are quite the stud Mr. Houston. I don't mind as long as it's all mine."

He stroked her arm thoughtfully. He'd made the decision to get in the Lear Jet and fly on over to see her after returning home alone to his beach house. He'd ran it past C.J in the car as they drove down PCH.

"You love her Houston?"

He hadn't been able to answer that but he knew just then what he had to do.


	23. Chapter 23

Matt looked exhausted. C.J. worried so much about him. He'd just buried his daddy who'd succumbed during his most recent case.

Someone had been out to kill five men who had been hospitalized and it turned out to be a hulk of a man who worked as an orderly. To say that this dude was psychotic, put it mildly. Matt and she had solved the case with the help of Too-Mean but not in time to save Bill's life.

She'd mourned alongside Matt because the Texas oilman turned multi-millionaire had been almost like a father to her after she lost her own daddy in the car bombing back when he'd been a federal prosecutor targeting mobsters back in Dallas.

They'd put him in the ground on the family plot right next to where they'd buried Virgil Wade or Wade Matlock as some had called him. After that, he'd started hitting the bottle again beginning with some scotch at the wake, then more along the lines of Whisky back at the penthouse suite. She hadn't seen him drinking like this since he'd lost his cousin years earlier.

She lay in bed snuggling next to her boyfriend, Carl who held onto her tightly as they both listened to the rain pattering against the windows.

"I don't know what to do with him Carl," she said, "I know better than to try to stop him from doing anything…it's just that he's had it real tough in the past few months."

Her boyfriend sighed.

"I know but Houston's a smart guy Maybe leaving town's the best thing for him right now."

Matt had taken off on his yacht down the Mexican coast to spend time away from everything including the hustle and bustle of L.A. The media had been camped out by his Malibu beach house and the office building located in the Century City Plaza. Even Robert Tyler of all people working for a network in Boston had called him up for an exclusive interview and hadn't gotten very far.

"It's just that he's not been the same since Wade died," she said, "and I don't understand why that is…then of course there was the whole deal with that serial killer that killed his fiancée."

"He got close to her sister didn't he?"

C.J. nodded.

"Yeah and then she gets killed," she said, "It was like the past happened all over again for him."

"When it rains it pours."

She sighed.

"Isn't that the truth?"

"He got shot pretty bad too didn't he?"

Carl had flown in while Matt had been recovering from several gunshot wounds and then other attempts on his life while in the convalescence hospital. C.J. had actually gotten a call that he'd died on the operating table and felt her whole world coming apart until…well the guy had more than one life like a cat.

"Yeah and then Vince got into some serious trouble," she continued, "Yeah I think he'll be gone for a while."

Carl rolled to his side to look at her.

"You okay with that?"

She paused for a long moment, then nodded.

"Sure I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

* * *

Matt sat on the deck of his yacht where it was moored on some aging dock outside of a small village in Mexico on the rocky coast. He looked at the glass of tequila in his hand, his latest drink of choice and then at the endless span of blueness that met the sky at the horizon.

He'd been sailing aimlessly down the coast for a week and spent some of his days fishing without catching much and trying hard not to think too much. The bottle helped…and the fact that he knew both C.J. and Too Mean would keep an eye on the investigative agency while he was gone.

C.J…he knew he could always depend on her, the best friend a guy could ever have and they'd remained friends for years through both good and bad, a few rip roaring fights and through the most memorable one night stand he'd ever enjoyed.

That somehow hadn't brought their friendship crashing down. Though since then they'd left it in the past safely tucked away where it couldn't do any damage to either one of them or what they shared. Besides she was with Carl now and he could see how serious that had become in the two months since the man had relocated to L.A. Maybe serious enough to lead to…but C.J. hadn't been close to marriage as he had been a time or two. He might even be married now if she hadn't been killed and then when he'd fallen for the sister...that had been snatched away from him too.

He reached to empty the bottle of tequila in his glass.

Andrea had broken off with him after she came back from Quantico having met someone there, a former SWAT member of the L.A. Sheriffs who ran his own security firm. So he was footloose and fancy free as some might put it.

He'd gone onshore a time or two to hit a bar or club and had spent the night with a senorita or two. The sex had been enjoyable enough, a release for him but nothing serious. He thought a lot about his daddy's funeral back in Texas. A crowd had attended but noticeably absent had been his daddy's only brother, Uncle Roy. Now the man had just buried his own wife, Matt's Aunt Flo some months earlier and was supposedly grieving back in New Mexico on a ranch near Santa Fe but when Matt had sent notice to his last known address, no response back.

The man who'd once worked for something called The Company just didn't show. He was all that was left of Matt's own family. Not that it mattered. Many people survived without families. After all, C.J. had lost both her parents at a young age, had been a ward of the state and had floated around before landing with a more permanent guardian.

He thought about her often too, including while lying on his bunk at night feeling the movement of the ocean rock him to sleep. His mind took him places it shouldn't go, remembering how it'd felt to stroke the soft smoothness of her skin, how it felt as his fingers glided over it, nudging lace and silk away to get where he wanted. How her lips had yielded beneath his own, her body and all its contours had molded against his own.

She'd fit him like a glove in more intimate ways. No, he shouldn't be thinking about a part of their lives that was a chapter in a closed book. She might wind up marrying Carl soon enough after all. But she deserved to be happy.

He closed his eyes and that was the last thought that drifted in his head before he fell asleep.

* * *

C.J. ran into an old friend at the Farmer's Market. She'd been shopping for some Italian bread sticks now and saw Elaine at the ice cream stand.

"C.J….long time no see!"

She smiled as she noticed how good Elaine looked much differently than the last time she'd seen her when she'd been about to divorce her husband Mark when she caught him cheating on her.

"Elaine…how are things going?"

Her friend smiled broadly.

"Awesome…met a new guy and we've been dating six months. What about you?"

"I'm seeing Carl that guy from college I told you about remember?"

"Sure do…I remember he seemed so different from your boyfriends in high school…," Elaine said, "I thought he was in Chicago."

"He was…got transferred out here two months ago. Much better job and pay and better for us."

"You look great…so it must agree with you….say what happened with Matt Houston? You still working with him?"

C.J. sighed.

"His father passed. With that and some other stuff, he took off away from L.A. for a while. Haven't heard from him."

Elaine shook her head.

"I hope things look up for him," she said, "He's a nice guy…great looking too."

C.J. heard that all the time but it was true on both counts. Then there'd been that night…it curled her toes to think about it but just wasn't worth risking a friendship over. They were lucky to come out of it so unscathed.

"Elaine…we should get together sometime. Catch up. I know this really great restaurant by the marina. Great calamari."

Her friend smiled.

"Sure thing…we'll have to do that soon."

C.J. watched her old friend disappear into the crowd. It had been funny how Elaine had just shown up in L.A. after all these years but they'd been such tight friends. They'd both lost their fathers at such young ages and had commiserated over it.

It'd be good to hook up with her again and share old times.

* * *

Matt sat in a bar and watched his old friend Randy head off to return a phone call. They'd run into each other at the open market when Matt had come to shore to buy some food and drink.

They'd wound up drinking and watching a rerun soccer match when Randy had gotten a call. When he returned, he ordered another beer.

"That was Meadowbrook Hospital…They had another escape."

Matt knew that was where Nurse Erin his one night stand from Hell had been sent after she'd gone catatonic. Surely it couldn't be…

"Some guy cut some wire loose in the yard sometime before dinner count. They think he might be trying to hunt down an ex-girlfriend in L.A."

"You heading to go down and look for him?"

Randy shook his head.

"Plenty of other security to do that," he said, "He was in the minimum risk wing."

Matt sipped his own beer thoughtfully watching the soccer players for one team score a goal against the other. He knew he'd have to end his own vacation soon, with work piling up at the office. He didn't feel much like it, he kind of liked the feeling of being adrift and not having to answer to anyone.

Not being Matt Houston, multi-millionaire and famed private investigator had proven quite refreshing. But real life would intrude soon enough.

"So is C.J. going to marry this ex-quarterback?"

Matt shrugged having no idea.

"Shame…I mean I'm happy for her if she does get hitched but I had my own sights set on her."

Matt sharpened his gaze at his friend.

"You're kidding right?"

"Hardly…she's one hot number. I've always had a bit of a thing for her."

Matt knew that and it had annoyed him because C.J. well, she was his best friend in the world and she deserved someone much better. Someone like…well no need to think too hard about that because she had Carl and he made her happy.

* * *

C.J. linked her arm in Carl's as they walked down the darkened street from where he parked his car to the Mark Taper Forum. They'd shown up to watch some theater after eating out at the new eatery in Chinatown.

"So when's Houston coming back?"

She sighed.

"I've got no idea. We haven't really been in touch."

"Why?"

She glanced sideways at him.

"I know when to just leave him be and trust in that he'll be okay. He'll come back when he's ready to return."

If she sounded more than a little defensive…that was just some trace concern because after all he'd been through so much in just several months.

"Did that G man ever call you back?"

She bristled. Another topic she didn't want to discuss. She'd dropped that search already…the way her life shaped up she'd been willing to let those missing pieces go.

"Yes but I haven't talked to him," she said, "I can't help him anyway. I haven't seen him since…"

She shook her head thinking it impossible anyway.

"It doesn't matter."

He just nodded as they walked up the stairs leading to the theater.

"Speaking of prosecutors," she said, "the one back in Houston called today for Matt to fly out there to be interviewed on the whole Elgin Cody deal."

"The one where they had the man posing as Houston?"

She nodded.

"Exact copy. Almost fooled me. I told them he'd give their office a call when he returned."

Carl shook his head.

"He lives an adventurous life," he said, "but I think I prefer my more mundane and safer one."

She squeezed him.

"So do I…"

* * *

Matt set the sail for his yacht to head up north along the coast back to the California coastline. He'd been feeling restless the last day or so and realized it was time to go back home. He still felt at a loss but people relied on him and he did feel more rested, if not more settled.

He'd been listening for weather reports on the radio when he'd heard some news out of Houston about the Elgin Cody case moving forward.

So he picked up the phone and called up C.J.

"Yeah they called the office. They want you to fly out to Houston and give a depo as soon as possible."

Matt sighed.

"After more than six months…"

"The wheels of justice often move slowly pal. So when you do back?"

"Ya miss me?"

She paused a moment.

"A little. But it's been slow at the office so you picked a good time to take off for a while."

"C.J…"

"Houston I get it. I know why you left and it'll be good to see you again. Everyone missed you."

"Even Murray…"

She chuckled.

"Especially Murray…"

He chuckled too and I felt good because it felt so normal.

"I'll be back in a couple days," he said, "Plan to stop in Baja and drop in on Ramona. She's there shooting a movie…"

"Well tell her hi for me…"

"Will do….anything else?"

A longer pause followed and then a sigh.

"No…everything's fine Houston," she said, "See you soon."

He clicked off and then set his course on the ocean, so he'd hug the coastline all the way back home.


	24. Chapter 24

C.J. sat in her house late at night, watching the coffee mug next to her get colder while she'd finished off her own. She'd even had the brandy waiting for Carl but he'd yet to return. It'd been two hours since she and Too-Mean had left her with the broken down car in the middle of a neighborhood less than a mile away.

He really should be back by now. She'd looked at her antique clock so many times in the past hour she couldn't count. She'd looked at her watch in case the clock's timing was off. She'd looked out her front window into the darkness, the utter quietness of her street, well she couldn't say how many times.

Where the hell was he?

He'd always been a reliable guy, a trait that too many of her boyfriends hadn't shown but he had always called her if he was going to be even 10 minutes late. But she'd heard nothing at all. Too Mean had left her after she'd assured him she'd lock the doors and the windows. She reminded him that he'd trained her in defense so well and she'd had that pistol by the side of her bed to protect her.

Matt had left her a message that he might be in Houston a day or two longer taking his deposition. She thought she'd heard a woman's throaty chuckle on the other end. So like Matt to hook up with a woman in every port. She'd been a bit unsettled by the reappearance of Christian…what was his name again…oh yeah Christian Dean in her life. But he'd seemed nice enough if a bit pushy.

She thought back to the day she'd taken Matt to the airport. He'd seemed a bit rushed because he'd been to a court hearing that had been set up to keep the notorious international hit man and all around creep Alan Garvey, aka "Andre" in jail until he could be transferred to a prison abroad. They'd originally put him up on $2 million bail but it turned out he'd spent some time with a band of mercenaries who'd raised the bond money so the federal prosecutors had rushed back to court to get it revoked.

Andre hadn't been too happy about that and once again, vowed revenge against Matt and all his friends and family, once again reminding everyone that he had magical, mystical powers and would go all stealth like and attack Matt when he least saw it coming.

Whatever, she thought, wasn't that what all of their enemies threatened at one time or another? But then a thought hit her then, what if Andre had gone…or sent someone after Carl? But then even with ESP he might not know so quickly that Carl's car had broken down. No, Carl was just getting it towed and had been too busy to call her.

She thought that made some sense as she went to refresh her coffee, not looking at the clock on the way to the kitchen as it chimed another hour.

* * *

Matt lay back in his bed with Mrs. Asst. Prosecutor next to him. Amber, he thought her name was but what he did know was that she was really pretty and had a body for sin. She'd drifted off to sleep after their last round, the sheets tucked around her waist. It'd been only a month since he and Andrea had really called it off and this woman was his third fling. But then with the line of work he did, so intense, so high risk at times, so on the edge, he needed his car collection, his horses and his women to keep him relaxed in between. C.J. and Chris and the cabal of secretaries at his office joked about it but not too seriously.

It'd been intense in the last couple of days in a different way. Being back in his daddy's house after he'd passed for the first time. The ghost of the patriarch everywhere it seemed, from shadows inside and the stories he heard when he wandered about town including the clubs at night. Everyone it seemed knew Bill Houston.

He got up from the bed and grabbed his robe. It was five a.m. and soon the sun would rise over the mountains in the horizon. Bo and Lamar would be out doing chores or getting into mischief. He'd been thinking about C.J. wondering what had happened since he'd last talked to her and she'd told him some guy from her high school days had been hassling her. Too Mean hadn't reported back to him either since he'd been discreetly tailing his best friend.

Something about what C.J. had told him, or more importantly hadn't told him had set him on edge. He'd always been a man of actions, deliberate and otherwise and with instincts honed by life and his military training. He really should call her, he thought as he went to the kitchen where he saw Rosalina, the housekeeper brewing up coffee already.

"Buenos Manana junior."

She always called him that. He smiled and embraced her, like he did as a little boy who didn't remember having a mama.

"Que tal?"

"Bueno y tu?"

"Muy Bueno."

She settled into preparing the omelets that he'd remembered growing up and he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Llamas tu novia?"

He just looked at her.

"You know she's not my girlfriend Rosalina. Solamente mi mejor amiga."

She arched her brows.

"Your lady friend eating with you this morning?"

His face flushed even though he was grown up now and as such, could bring his lady friends home with him.

"No se."

She shrugged and went to get the eggs, and peppers of all sorts while he sipped his coffee thoughtfully, wondering what was happening in L.A.

* * *

God, hospital coffee was always the pits. She didn't know why that was but her mind ruminated over it while she sat in the waiting room for the surgeon to appear through the double doors in front of her. Too Mean had joined her and he'd been on the phone dealing with some business while they both waited to learn whether Carl lived or died on the operating table.

She'd nodded off to sleep when the phone rang and she'd answered it. An LAPD traffic sergeant had called to tell her that her boyfriend had been discovered lying unconscious in the middle of the deserted street not far away from his car. His body had been badly battered and bruised, blood trickling out of his nose and mouth.

He must have been struck and the driver took off without stopping. It happened sometimes. The officer who found him had noted some skid marks right in front of his body where the driver must have tried to stop but it'd been too late. He was undergoing surgery at Wilshire Memorial Hospital, would she like directions?

"No, I know how to get there in my sleep."

She'd been a patient there and she'd kept how many vigils for Matt when he'd been injured on the job? But he'd survived every one of them to go out and do it all over again. Carl, well he'd make it through surgery and get better too.

The nurse hadn't been as optimistic when C.J. had gotten to the hospital. She'd changed out of her party clothes into more comfortable jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt, hit the gas pedal all the way thankful that L.A.'s main streets were dead after midnight only to hear the nurse tell her that she could only tell members of Carl's family news about him.

C.J. had nearly lost it then and had tried to explain she was his girlfriend. She'd flashed back to the last time they'd laughed together in his car over something silly that she couldn't quite remember now and then his face had grown all serious.

He'd been about to ask her something…whatever it had been, she'd remembered the look on his handsome face…almost like that of a little boy who waited for Santa Claus at Christmas time. She bit her lip not knowing what he wanted…or how she'd answer him.

But then, the grinding noise had filled the inside of the car and it had begun to lurch before halting to a stop.

He'd never finished asking his question, she realized now.

Hoyt had shown up and smoothed things over with the nurse so she was on the "need to know" list of people. She didn't know much about Carl's family as she realized now he didn't talk much about them. He'd had a father who'd died like hers and his mama? Well, she hadn't been all that well when they'd both been back in college. Hoyt patted her on the hand and told her his officers would handle that. She nodded silently.

She'd tried to contact Matt about a couple of hours after she'd arrived but Rosalina said he'd left the house and the clerk at the federal courthouse said that he was being deposed again and thus couldn't be interrupted. So she hung the phone up and went back to her chair to wait for the surgeon to talk to them.

* * *

Matt hated depositions. God, he hated sitting in court with some judge and too many damn lawyers. He didn't like them much. You didn't think about lawyers until you needed them…though there was one lawyer out there he was mighty fond of…more than that.

C.J. hadn't called him and he told himself after the deposition was done, he'd give her a call and check up on her. But the prosecutor had told him at breakfast that it'd last all day. Now he didn't even know why they were taking a depo for a criminal proceeding but he didn't ask questions, he just answered the damn questions unless Amber objected to them.

She'd been nice in the sack, a nice distraction while he was stuck in Texas. He'd not wanted to come back, the memories of life here with his daddy too raw, too painful. Both of his daddies actually because his biological father had died on the estate's steps.

But he had some good memories too. Bo, Lamar, Rosalina the other hands and most importantly his best friend C.J.

The hottest night of his life had been spent in one of the ranch hand cabins. Not that he allowed himself to think about that too much. Because then he might want to repeat it and well, both of them had nixed doing that and had been living under some unwritten code between them ever since.

He sighed as the lawyers took a break and the judge disappeared in chambers again. He poured himself some water wishing it was Scotch. It was going to be a really long day.

* * *

C.J. collapsed against the wall. The surgeon had finally walked through those double doors, his mask lowered below his face. He'd looked damn tired and he didn't look pleased at all. Her heart sunk just before it blew into a thousand pieces, sharp as glass inside of her.

"He didn't make it did he?"

The surgeon nodded before he went into a litany of injuries that the young man who'd once been a star quarterback had suffered. Broken thoracic vertebrae, punctured lungs, lacerated liver, crushed kidneys and a shattered hip and femur. Massive internal bleeding from about a half dozen places had been what had finished him off.

She didn't hear most of it. She just closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself, where Carl's should have been. She didn't understand it. They'd been so happy one moment, right up to when she'd stepped into Too Mean's car. Then the moment she left him alone, he winds up dead as the police had told her he'd been lying on the street for some time before a man walking his poodle had found him and phoned 911.

Too Mean had tried to call Matt for her but he was still locked up in the courtroom being deposed. Hoyt had shown up again while she'd been in a waiting area, pacing endlessly because her mind had begun working overtime. Her heart had stopped but the Harvard trained, investigation honed brain of hers that had been her ticket to success kicked in as details of the past few days began to flood her.

If someone was murdered by someone else, the investigator must treat that incident as an end event and then work their way backwards to the key events earlier that would ID the killer. Yes, that's how she had done it with Matt all the time. But wait a minute, Carl wasn't murdered was he? It was just an accident, a senseless one but an accident.

At least that's what Hoyt kept telling her right now. Problem was, her instincts told her otherwise. She'd traveled that route backwards and hadn't gone very far before a face appeared in front of her.

Christian Dean.

"He'd been calling me, showing up, sending me flowers…"

Hoyt just sighed.

"My wife should be so lucky…"

He kept telling her that it was just the attentions of a young man, a blast from her past who'd just been interested in striking up a relationship with her. Not the actions of a remorseless killer.

"Someone probably was just out late, maybe drinking and then he just appeared in front of them suddenly," he said, "There were tire marks where it looks like they tried to stop."

C.J. wasn't having any of it.

"He was murdered…"

She kept saying it over and over until it'd sink in the veteran LAPD officer's head. But it didn't seem to be working. If she didn't know better, she'd think he was treating her like the little woman who was paranoid about everything that happened around her. At least he didn't recommend that she find a hobby or spend some time on the therapy couch.

At least Too Mean was in her corner. He was suspicious too and he'd help her. Hoyt smiled at her.

"Go home Mrs. Parsons. Your boyfriend died. It's been one hell of a night."

She nodded, not willing to debate him anymore.

"Do you want me to send a friendly uniform with you?"

She shook her head and Too Mean stepped forward and said that wouldn't be necessary. They left Hoyt behind and C.J. turned around and told Too Mean they weren't heading to her house.

They were heading to the penthouse suite to do some investigating to prove that Carl had been murdered so the police would start doing their job instead of writing her off as some hysterical female.

* * *

Hoyt didn't feel as confident as he sounded and dispatched some of his best detectives out to the scene. He sent some forensic techs to go comb through Carl's car which had been impounded as evidence and was sitting in the bay.

It didn't take them long until they phoned him back with some interesting news. The fuel line had been cut.

Detectives called him from the neighborhood where Carl had been found. An old lady on the canvass had said she heard a loud noise about an hour before Carl was found and not too far away from where Carl's body had been marked, another detective found a crow bar lying on the street next to what looked like a wad of gauze with a pungent odor.

Suddenly it didn't seem so much like an accident.

* * *

Matt broke for lunch for a half hour and felt like he was surfacing for air. The questions hadn't been so tough but one fired after the other, in relentless fashion and it hadn't taken him long just to get bored. Amber and he went to a conference room to eat barbecue takeout. She'd dropped her professional demeanor like she'd dropped her dress last night and flirted with him as they hit the spare ribs and potatoes and swallowed them down with iced sweet tea.

"So how am I doing counselor?"

She smiled at him.

"Like a pro Matlock," she said, "You're so damn sexy when you're under cross not breaking a sweat."

He sipped his tea.

"I figured how much worse it is to be gored by one of my daddy's bulls."

She wore a wounded expression.

"Ouch…well obviously he didn't hit any vital parts."

"No Ma'am he sure didn't."

Amber looked at him and knew he wasn't a keeper. Men like Matt were footloose and fancy free to invoke an awful cliché. But she'd enjoy him for the next few days. The clerk had slipped her some phone messages for him during the break, two from his associate C.J and two others from someone who called himself Too Mean.

She'd hold onto them for a while, telling herself she needed him sharp and on his game during the afternoon session. But she had other reasons as well.

* * *

C.J. talked to a doctor for the second time that day, again at Wilshire Memorial Hospital. God, it'd been so damn crazy. Just a couple days ago, she'd been trying out that new eatery at the marina with her high school buddy Elaine, when she'd been getting calls from Christian Dean there.

She knew from what he'd told her on the phone that he'd been watching her. When he'd told her not to be embarrassed by that other guy meaning Carl, she'd just gotten indignant and hung up on him.

Now she knew that since that moment, Carl had been a man marked for death. Matt hadn't called her at all but she knew he'd been busy with the deposition back in Texas. Too Mean and she had headed back to the office to research Christian Dean.

He'd been in mental institutions in and out of his life and he'd slipped out of the latest one that held him after he'd harassed a young woman in Denver. She traced the possible routes to L.A. and Baby dug up a small article on the mysterious death of a man who'd been found lying next to the highway on the 15.

"Autopsy?"

She frowned, clicking some keys to find it and display it on the screen.

"Died of blunt trauma back of the head…maybe by a crow bar."

Too Mean digested that.

"Might be our guy."

C.J. knew that it was a needle in a haystack kind of deal but he could be right. If Dean had killed Carl as she suspected, then it might not have been his only murder. Then both turned as they heard the phone ring. She went to get it and refresh her Scotch since Chris was off for the day.

She knew it was Dean before he started talking. He wanted to meet with her some place so they could catch up since high school. It chilled her how normal he sounded, over enthused almost giddy with anticipation of meeting her. Almost as if…

"I'm sorry if I sound a bit 'off'. It's just that a friend of mine had an 'accident'."

He made some polite murmur and then back to wanting to meet with her. She glanced up at Too Mean who nodded and knew this was her chance to find out for sure if he'd been responsible for Carl's death.

She'd set up a date at a place near the marina only Too Mean would show up to meet him not her.

An hour later, she got a phone call from Hoyt at the hospital. Too Mean had been brought in with a serious concussion and broken collarbone. He'd just regained consciousness and hadn't told the police much.

C.J. paced holding the phone as they talked. She then got her purse and rushed to her car. He had gone back to sleep by the time she arrived to stand vigil in his room. Then she made a decision and went to call Matt back in Texas.

She gripped the phone so hard her knuckles turned white.

"Be there Houston…just be there…"

The phone rang several more times and then picked up.

"Hello…"

The familiar sounding voice on the end made her weak in the knees for the wrong reasons.

"Houston…thank God…"

"C.J…what's the matter?"

Then the story just spilled out of her, the words piling up telling the frightening story of the past 24 hours.

"Too Mean's in the hospital. He did it. And he killed Carl Houston. Carl's dead."

Matt responded by telling her to hang tight, he'd be on the next flight to L.A. She then hung up the phone and remained at the hospital for a while before heading on home for what she thought might be the longest night of her life.


	25. Chapter 25

Matt burnt rubber on the way to C.J. house. His Lear Jet had been undergoing a C check in Dallas so he'd not been able to fly it having to rely on the whims of the airline industry. He'd sat in first class mentally running through his head everything he knew about this Christian Dean which was next to nothing while an overly solicitous flight attendant kept filling his glass.

He stopped drinking after the second one because he didn't know what he'd be walking into once he landed in L.A. C.J. had sounded so beaten down on the phone like he'd not heard in so long and he knew that this Dean guy had really worked a number on her and that killing her boyfriend had only been part of it.

Carl had been an upstanding guy who'd fallen in love with his best friend and her with him. Matt knew now that he'd really not wanted to like the guy but couldn't help himself. Besides being an ex-football player, he was good for C.J. Not like some of the others that she'd dated in the past.

Now just like that, he was dead and lying in the morgue at Wilshire Memorial waiting to be claimed by the next of kin. He picked up his luggage off the carrel as soon as the plane landed and took the shuttle to his office where he picked up his Mercedes in the garage.

It was only 15 minutes to C.J.'s from there but he made it in ten, parking his car in front of her house which appeared dark and quiet as the night that surrounded it. She must have gone to bed, waiting for him. But he'd try anyway. She'd never been much of a deep sleeper, a trait they shared in common.

* * *

C.J. tossed and turned once she'd finally drifted off to sleep. She'd changed into her blue silken pajamas but didn't quite remember that and slid beneath the covers. Before doing that, she'd searched her house and double bolted the doors and windows.

He'd walked inside her house at least once before, she knew that now. There'd been that time she arrived home from work and had seen the checkbook sitting on the antique table. She'd been a collector and this had been one of her favorite pieces from an estate sale. But she didn't recall leaving it there, she'd just looked for it that morning. It wasn't just that, it'd been this _feeling_ that there'd been another presence in her space other than her and Carl.

Still she'd gone to bed inhaling Carl's scent on the pillowcase from his cologne. She'd drifted off in an unsettled sleep.

Until…her eyes opened and she saw him standing right there. The outline of him anyway but she didn't need the details filled in to know that Dean had found a way into her bedroom. He was on her bed in a flash covering her mouth with her hand so she couldn't scream.

Stroking her cheek while bile rose to her throat. He disgusted her, after taking away the man she loved who should be here doing those things instead of him. A litany of words sprang from his mouth, all about how he wanted to love her, be with her, and possess her. She knew she couldn't struggle even when he tried to lift her head to kiss her on the mouth. She had to fight to keep from spitting in his face. But Matt and Too Mean had taught her well…she didn't have the brawn or weight to counter a man most of the time so she had to use her smarts and sometimes that meant patiently awaiting just the right moment of attack.

Sometimes that meant putting up with being kissed by a man she despised until…

Just then she heard a pounding on the front door and a familiar voice yelling her name.

"C.J.?"

Matt.

She struggled against Dean then and screamed loudly. Dean leaned back and she scrambled out from beneath him going for the gun beneath her pillow.

She pointed it at him unwavering. His reaction was to dash away from her and she shot at him several times.

"C.J.?!"

Matt's voice sounded more alarmed that time and she heard the crashing and splintering of wood. But her attention remained on Dean and shooting him down.

He disappeared and gun in hand, she ran to the back door which she opened widely and ran out into her patio. She waved her gun around widely.

God, he could be anywhere. He had been everywhere. He'd been inside her bedroom.

Suddenly she heard someone else out on the patio near the gate and she swung around to aim her gun at the shape. A man carrying a gun, poised and ready at his side. She didn't even think, she aimed it at him.

"C.J.?"

She saw Matt then, but she still aimed her gun at him anyway. Adrenalin flooding her body, making her heart pound, the sound of blood rushing inside her head, she wasn't thinking.

She didn't have time for that. But the man slowly approached her, talking to her but not making any sense.

She melted in his arms after he took her gun away, sobbing without tears. She'd hate herself later for weakening like that even in front of him. But for now, she just let him wrap his arms around her tightly, hugging her close to him.

It hadn't taken long for the logical, methodical side of his best friend to return, Matt thought as they returned to her bedroom. He'd made her some of that chamomile tea to help her calm down. She took it grudgingly but kept telling him she was just fine. She wanted to catch Dean and prove that he'd killed Carl and hurt Too Mean.

Would he help her do that? If he was more intent on protecting her, the door was that way. Matt knew better than to argue with her or even reason with her when she got like this. He'd seen her like this when Connie Ling had been murdered, when Butterfly's sister had been murdered, when Bo had nearly been blown up at Matt's birthday bash and other times during the more personal cases they investigated and solved.

* * *

They'd waited for Hoyt to arrive after the initial police response. He watched her try to keep busy while she ran the details of the past few days to him in rote style. He sighed, all he wanted to do was hold her close to him, to comfort her but she wanted no part of that so wisely he'd backed off.

Hoyt had brought Officer Marks who seemed sensible enough and friendly enough but Matt wasn't quite sure why she was here.

Only after Hoyt told him that from here the police would handle everything including keeping C.J. out of harm's way. Of course that didn't sit well with Matt.

"Oh so you decide now it's serious…after he killed Carl, after he put Too Mean in the hospital or is this just a result of that little escapade last night?"

C.J. got in between them glaring at the two of them.

"Knock it off already. It doesn't make much difference now does it?"

Both men subdued themselves, but both remained convinced that they were right. So Hoyt told C.J. and Matt that she needed to pack up and go stay somewhere else while they put the house under surveillance because what Matt and Hoyt both knew, is that Dean would be back.

"She rebuffed him Hoyt. She shot at him. Sure he'll be back and I'll be here waiting."

The lieutenant frowned at him.

"Wait a minute here, I thought you'd be at your cabin in Pinewood looking after the lady."

Matt shook his head. If anyone had tried to mess with C.J. he wanted a piece of him, end of story. Hoyt knew better than to argue with him on that. Based on how Carter the disgraced DEA agent looked in his mug shots…based on the stories that Vince Novelli had related from Miami when Hoyt had called him for a briefing on the PI who was in his face and always messing with his crime scenes.

C.J. finally agreed to it, telling Matt to be careful and keep her posted. They'd have a female cop pose as her and the sensible one would join her up in Pinewood.

"A few days in the mountains suits me fine lieutenant."

She'd said that before C.J. grabbed her suitcase to leave her house. Just earlier she'd complained to Matt and Hoyt that she felt ran out of her own home, from the city for Christ's sake but a part of her just wanted to get away from it all.

Pinewood had been a refuge for her before and so it would be again.

* * *

Matt swore to himself as he drove back to the office building. He had to get to Pinewood ASAP and even his souped up Mercedes wouldn't cut it.

He needed his chopper to get out there fast enough before…he just focused on navigating the traffic in L.A.'s streets to get there faster. The operation to sting Dean hadn't gone as well as hoped. Dean had been alerted by a radio chirping inside a plain car and had just taken off.

They'd gone off in pursuit including Matt because at this point, the LAPD knew better than to argue with him when it came to one of his friends and family being in danger. They'd chased Dean to a freeway overpass but then lost him when he jumped over the edge soft landing on a truck beneath him.

He'd gotten lucky and now he was gone back to being that needle in a whole lot of haystacks. Still, they knew they had C.J. tucked safely away in the mountains.

Until…he had called in to check in the office and Chris told him that the police officer there had already told a sergeant on the phone where C.J. was staying.

Matt knew that everyone who needed to know her location which was four people had been informed so he called Hoyt and told him that more likely than not Dean was on his way to Pinewood.

The lieutenant had tried to alert Marks but she wasn't picking up. He told Matt that maybe they were out hiking and enjoying the scenery.

Matt wasn't hearing it and he drove even faster to Houston Enterprises.

* * *

C.J. walked out with the fishing poles and tackle box, after Marks had challenged her to who could catch up the most trout for dinner. C.J. had taken her on because it'd take her mind off of what was playing out in L.A.

She hadn't heard anything yet. She had called the hospital to check on Too Mean and he was doing much better, would be released in a day or so. She knew he'd have a litany of girlfriends waiting to play nurse with him.

She scanned around the grassy area by the lake for any sign of Marks but didn't see her. Her body tensed and her senses more honed. Something seemed _off_ and more than that, she felt as if she were being watched from someone hidden in the trees.

Then she saw a body half in and half out of the lake lying on the ground.

Marks.

C.J. ran over to her leaving the tackle box and poles behind and knelt beside the women dragging her out of the lake, lifting her up to keep the water out of her lungs. The officer finally sputtered but didn't open her eyes.

Suddenly C.J. heard something else.

"Do you believe in the afterlife?"

She looked up and she saw Dean standing there, staring at her. The fear filled her down to the marrow but damn it if she weren't pissed off as well. How dare…how fucking dare he follow her up in the mountains where she was supposed to be safe? He'd find out soon enough that he was the one who needed to be afraid.

She got up and she dodged him while he spouted off some ridiculous nonsense about how they belonged together, it was pre-destined…blah blah blah. She picked up a fishing pole as a weapon, a flimsy one but better than nothing.

He approached her and she wacked him with it, striking him which made him not too happy. Tough. He'd be more unhappy when she took out his ACL with some side blows.

Then she dropped the pole and took off sprinting. He didn't follow her right away and suddenly she knew why.

The knife inside the tackle box. The one that she should have grabbed instead of the damn fishing pole. But she hadn't been thinking…and she'd violated part of the self-defense canon that had been drilled into her.

She ran with him in pursuit and a glance behind her showed him he now welded the knife. If she had her gun…to draw it in time to shoot him down he'd have to be more than 21 feet from her. Not that it mattered, she'd left her gun in the cabin in her purse. A lot of good it'd do her there.

She kept running as grass turned to packed dirt and gravel and until she ran out of real estate. Because right behind the cabin, it was mostly ridge. She didn't need to look down to know that two hundred feet below her was a dried up river bid filled with rocks.

A dead end and now a crazy man approached her with a knife intent on using it so they could reunite in the afterlife or something else crazy assed.

"It won't matter because you'll be with me…"

Like hell she would…she'd see him in hell first. She stood poised on the balls of her feet like she'd been taught sizing him up, sizing up the space around him for a way to slip on past him so he'd be closer to the edge.

Just then she heard a chopping noise in the area some place and what grass stood on the ridge started bending. Suddenly a helicopter appeared out of nowhere and she recognized it.

Matt.

He must have figured out somehow that Dean would track her down in her hiding place. She saw him hovering there and knew what she had to do. Dean had been distracted by Matt's chopper and had stopped looking at her.

So she ran towards him and did without thinking, something she'd sworn she'd never do unless she'd thought long and hard first.

She'd killed a man.

The simple almost instinctive act of pushing him off the ridge had surely ended a life. Maybe one in the end that had been governed more by delusion and psychosis than reality but now it'd left her with blood on her hands.

She'd sunk to the ground with the enormity of it all, not even aware the chopper had landed and a man she'd known all of her life leapt out of it.

Not until she felt herself enveloped in his warm embrace had she thought at all.

* * *

She'd spent the night with him in the cabin after the LAPD and San Bernardino County Sheriff's homicide team had jointly processed the crime scene. Marks had been rushed to the hospital but would recover and the FBI wanted to talk to local LE because Dean had been implicated in three other murders on his path from the mental institution he'd slipped away from all the way to L.A.

His mangled body lay covered by a sheet inside the steel drawer of a morgue somewhere. She didn't care where.

Hoyt told her that Carl's sister who was living in Northern Oregon would come to pick up his body.

"I think Helena needs some space to process it all," C.J. said, "I know it's not right to think this Houston but I can't help but feel responsible…"

"C.J…"

She shook her head as they sat together on the deck that overlook the calmness of the lake, the trees that bordered its farthest shore.

"If I had…I don't know done things differently…if I'd just stayed with him and not left him alone…"

"Carl would want you safe at home."

"Safe from what? We didn't even know how dangerous that stretch of road was that night."

Hoyt had explained to her that the car had been tampered with already but then news came out that Dean had planned to hit Carl with the crow bar maybe hard enough to kill him, maybe not. His main intent had been to knock C.J. out with chloroform that had been connected with one of the dead bodies and kidnap her.

She knew when she'd heard that he'd planned to kill her after he'd been finished with her. The odds of surviving after being removed from the primary crime scene dwindled down to almost nil in most serial cases. If she'd been drugged, she wouldn't have had a chance to fight at all.

Matt couldn't answer. He just drew her in his arms again and she leaned against him. He'd always made her feel safer and sometimes she let him like now.

There'd been a time when they'd shared so much more than that. Only one night never to be repeated but it never faded entirely away as was proper.

"Houston…I loved him so much. I told him but not that night."

"He knew C.J. I know he did," he said, "He told me when I gave him the speech."

She frowned.

"The speech?"

He scratched the back of his head, his other arm still curved around her.

"Oh that. Yes it's what I tell your boyfriends when we go out for a beer. Just that we'll get along just fine as long as they don't mess with you."

She smiled at that. She knew that Carl had really liked Matt and unlike most men she met, he didn't feel threatened by their close friendship at all.

"Mostly we talked football…"

"I didn't tell him about us…"

"Us?"

She sighed.

"You know…when we were younger. The whole poker game thing."

He smiled.

"That…I don't tell my girlfriends everything either."

She paused.

"It's not because he'd get jealous about it. It's just that it's…personal and I don't know why exactly…"

Her voice trailed off. He reached his fingers over to tilt her face up to look at him.

"It was the most special night of my life C.J. I don't share it with anyone either."

She felt surprised. She couldn't feel anything else rather than that right now.

"Really? I mean you've had so many nights like that…not that I'm judging you for it."

"Yeah really…even if it doesn't mean they'll be another. There doesn't have to be to change anything."

She considered that because often, she'd wished it'd be an experience repeated and not just because it'd been great…no outstanding sex. The best…but it seemed to cheapen it by going further in that direction. He was probably right.

"With Carl…it was just because I really loved him so much. I didn't mean to let that happen Houston. I wish…"

His voice changed.

"No you don't C.J. You loved him, he loved you…even death can't ever take that away."

She sighed, knowing he spoke the truth but she couldn't feel it now. She felt numb mostly except where his body touched hers.

Maybe someday when she could feel again.

* * *

Matt cooked up some steaks while C.J. made sure Too Mean was sitting comfortably at the table. His arm was in its sling and still pained him. But he'd worked up an appetite for steak and baked potatoes. C.J. noticed something odd when she popped by to check Matt's progress with them.

Only two were sizzling away.

"Why only two steaks? Is someone going on a diet here?"

He shook his head and she noticed he'd dressed up a bit. She smelled his dressier cologne and arched a brow.

"I'm going out C.J. The steaks are for you and Too Mean."

She put a hand on a hip.

"Going out? You mean…"

They turned around to see Amber the assistant prosecutor looking really fine in a stylish cocktail dress, her hair up above her face. Contact lens replacing her glasses to complete the look. C.J. wanted to roll her eyes. Leave it to Houston to make up for lost time with his flavor of the week.

She knew that's what it was about but she certainly didn't begrudge him some playtime. After all, he'd been doting over her the past couple of weeks including while they flew up overnight in his jet for Carl's funeral.

That'd been tough…but it'd given her a chance to say goodbye during her eulogy. She'd really miss him and the piece of her heart he'd taken with her. But she'd already given it to him freely. The only thing was at the funeral she thought she'd seen someone.

A man dressed in a suit standing in the background just watching. He looked out of place in the funeral though he'd been properly dressed.

She'd caught him looking at her. Afterward, she'd almost expected him to approach her. To introduce himself to her, to make small talk but he'd disappeared by then.

Strange.

But when Matt rejoined her, she kept that to herself.

Now later, she sat to eat a meal with Too Mean before they headed off to watch the Dodgers play the A's at the stadium. She'd promised Matt she'd take it easy to Too Mean and he'd promised Matt he'd bring her home safely.

Matt drove off in his Mercedes with Amber already planning his exit. A night or two with her and then she'd fly back off to Houston and he'd stay in L.A. He just wasn't ready to settle into even a semi-serious relationship with one woman, not when there were so many out there waiting.

Except for the one that he'd really wanted all along.


	26. Chapter 26

She woke up in a strange place and all she felt was pain. Her mouth felt dry and she heard the beeping of some machine she couldn't see. Where was she? She saw darkness and a glow of light coming from what looked like a doorway.

Something pinched her hand when she tried to move it and she felt something tugging on it. But when she tried to move further, she felt a sudden weight near left shoulder. Not pain really, just heaviness. Moving it, it just didn't cooperate and that's when she realized that something had happened to her.

She'd been lying on a stretcher and there'd been nurses and doctors rushing her down some lit hallway towards some place, while she'd felt unable to move.

A man had been with her until she saw uniformed men surround him and take him away from her.

_Houston._

Wait a minute…she was in a hospital. A familiar enough place for her to be. Working alongside Matt on cases, she'd been to her share of hospitals, done her time in waiting rooms, examination rooms and once in the OR.

Was that where she'd been this time?

She remembered crouching by the car next to a burning building that the two of them had fled. He'd jumped through the window shattering the glass and then she'd followed. He'd caught her sending both of them to the ground as bullets whizzed around them.

But she'd been hit. She'd felt the stinging sensation as the adrenalin of their escape began to ebb. Matt had found the blood from the gunshot that hit her shoulder.

She hadn't even felt it until then. She remembered urging him to go back into the burning building to get the files.

What he needed to clear his name of a murder charge, but he'd been focused instead on getting her into his car and then to the nearest hospital.

He'd of course been arrested and now sat in jail.

Suddenly a man with a stethoscope walked into the room followed by a familiar face.

Hoyt.

She tried to sit up but couldn't move. The doctor flipped open her chart.

"The bullet that hit her is on its way to a lab," he said, "I'm more concerned about my patient."

Hoyt nodded.

"Of course…how's she doing?"

She wanted to tell them but the doctor turned his back to her

"She'll live. No major blood vessels or tissue was badly damaged," he said, "She was very lucky. Lucky to get her as fast as she did."

Houston had gotten her there and he had sacrificed his freedom to save her.

"The man she was with brought her here," Hoyt said, "He was arrested soon after."

The doctor held up his hands.

"I don't need the details. Like I said, I'm focusing on the patient and she needs rest. She won't be up to talking with anyone tonight."

Hoyt nodded.

"The man escaped custody," he said, "We might need to talk with her tomorrow to find out where he might have gone."

Her heart nearly stopped, her muscles tensed sending some painful impulses to her shoulder. Matt had escaped, how? She wondered if Hoyt knew more about that than he was saying.

The doctor sighed.

"I'm sure you'll catch up to him soon enough. But if he saved this woman's life, he deserves some thanks don't you think?"

Both of them walked out of the room leaving her alone. Her mind felt foggy and details…she couldn't flesh them out from her memories. She couldn't remember most of what had happened…just bits and pieces as she began to drift off to sleep.

Something nagged at her.

_Houston, I love you…_

* * *

Matt woke up inside a car parked at the side of the road, hidden by some brush in what looked much more rugged terrain than it had in the darkness. He'd parked there hoping to get some shuteye before figuring out what to do next.

Hoyt had put everything on the line to give him back his freedom and his only chance to stop himself from being framed by the man who'd erased a month of his life.

Erased or reprogrammed it, he wasn't sure which yet. The answer might be more than he could handle if it meant that he'd really killed the woman in his nightmares.

His life had turned upside down in the past couple of days he'd been on the run. Two women he cared about shot while trying to help him.

Andrea, his ex-girlfriend, killed by a shot to the heart and C.J. lying in a hospital bed back in L.A. shot in the shoulder. Too many people had paid high prices for being close to him, now was the time to put some distance between himself and his life before anyone else got hurt.

Only one person could help him now and it was the only family member he had left. His daddy's brother, Roy Houston who had worked for a clandestine organization known as The Company. It was really the CIA, wink, wink but those who lived in between the shadows as it was called used other covers until they died.

Matt had found out about his uncle because of his background in military intelligence but had kept his secret.

Not that he kept in touch with the man much…certainly not after they'd held a funeral for his only son, Will who'd been killed in action while in the military. Roy and Bill Houston had been estranged for years and neither would tell him why, only that they'd fallen out of touch.

Some years ago, Roy's wife Flo had passed away in her sleep and Matt hadn't gone to the funeral because he'd been in Europe tracking Castanos who of course had been leaving his trail of dismembered women across the continent.

C.J. had flown to Santa Fe instead to attend and he'd arranged for a big flower arrangement in his aunt's memory. She said that his wife's death had aged him, but he hadn't betrayed any grief, much like had happened when he'd held a memorial service for his son whose body had never been found.

There were times through the years when Matt wanted to reach out to his uncle. But his father's ongoing feud with him had stood in his path. The last few months of his daddy's life he'd lived with the secret that he had met his biological father…the guilt that consumed him at the end for not telling him…well it hadn't left him much time to think about his uncle.

But now he was on his way to New Mexico to see him. He needed his help. He'd run into a special young boy named Nathanial that told him he needed to find his family.

That got him thinking that there must be some reason and perhaps it had to do with his uncle's shadowy background in covert operations.

But first things first, he'd been thinking a lot about C.J. since he'd taken her to the hospital fraught with worry…even though Hoyt had gotten word to him that she'd survived.

She'd been released from the hospital after three days, probably chomping at the bit to get out of there and he hoped she'd go home and rest.

But he knew better.

She'd be at the office trying to dig up information that could help him. He did need her help but didn't want to get her into any more trouble.

So he wouldn't tell her where he was right now and where he was heading. Now if he could just find a payphone so he wouldn't be traced.

* * *

Roy dug another row in his garden plot to plant more tomatoes. He'd been at it all morning only breaking to hit the pitcher of iced sweet tea in the refrigerator.

He had a ham sandwich on rye waiting in the kitchen. Not as good as his Flo used to make but it'd keep him from starving.

His days were spent more quietly in what he knew to be his twilight years. He'd lost his family. Son died on some battlefield at the age of 23 and his wife, she'd lasted longer but slipped away quietly one night of a heart attack.

He'd been on his own since then because he hadn't spoken to his only brother in years and the man's son, Matlock who'd been Will's age had been too busy chasing some killer in Europe to come to the funeral. Not that he begrudged him that. He'd been in Matt's position and part of him…he wished he could be younger again, more agile and on the hunt for a bad guy.

The Company had retired him too early…his cover had been blown one too many times. But you didn't leave that kind of life until someone buried you…which meant his past came to visit him on occasion.

Like that morning when the phone rang. The ambient noise in the background, maybe an open café in some European country. Roy thought he heard Italian in the background. The accent, from the Tuscany area among the ancient estates and aging vineyards.

Roy had picked up the phone seeing "unknown" in the Caller ID not that it hid this man's identity. He should know better to call him even from a disposable phone.

"You know that most people who go into the Program wind up dead within two months of trying to return to their old lives…"

"Spare me the lecture," the man said, "I need some information from you. Something bad happened."

Roy knew from the man's voice who was involved.

"You're treading on dangerous ground," he said, "You need to just sit back and I'll check on Scout."

Frustration laced the voice somewhere on the other side of the world from Santa Fe.

"I need to know what's going on," the man said, "I just can't sit on my hands and do nothing."

Roy hardened his voice.

"After all this time…do not blow the life you built now," he said, "I'll handle it on this end and as soon as I find out anything I'll tell you."

A pause, then a sigh.

"Okay, I'll try my best but it's getting harder to do."

Roy knew better than most the truth behind that.

"There's more lives than just your own that'd you endanger," he said, "I'll get you word as soon as I know."

The man sighed again.

"Thanks Roy I knew I could depend on you. I mean we go way back."

Further back than anyone would ever know, Roy thought. Of all the secrets left unrevealed, this was the one he had to take to his grave.

"No problem, Atticus."

He had shaken his head hanging up the phone and went back into his garden. When his past career intruded, he often felt helpless to do anything now. The world had changed so much, the battle lines were redrawn and it was harder to determine sides.

Far better to deal with how to turn a barren plot of earth into rows along rows of tomatoes, bell peppers and this season, romaine lettuce.

* * *

C.J. sat in the office rubbing her throbbing shoulder. She'd ditched the horrid sling just because she felt it got in her way of what she needed to do right now.

Research different leads to see which one could best help Matt. She hadn't heard from him since the night she got shot and he'd somehow been released from custody slipping away into the night.

Living in anonymity not easy for the owner of a Fortune 500 company whose face was plastered in every newspaper and splashed on every television newscast. Not that everyone wanted him caught and strapped to an electric chair for killing a young woman who'd been disposed of in a shallow grave.

He'd become almost a folk hero in some circles, remaining one step ahead of the authorities and on a quest to clear his name.

The phone rang and she picked it up. Chris had gone out to get them all some designer coffee at a new business down the street.

"Hello, Houston Enterprises…"

"C.J.?"

Her heart did stop then and her blood froze.

"Houston?"

"The same…I heard you got out of the hospital. I figured you'd go against doctor's orders and head to the office."

Some reproach in his voice which struck her as funny given that he was the one running around out there with a huge target sign on his back.

"You're a wanted man pal."

God, she was being so casual like he was just a friend when just a few days ago…but she couldn't think about that right now. He hadn't responded back, at least verbally. He'd stroked her face, his eyes intense but she chalked it up to the fact that they were ducking a hail of gunfire that had already ended a woman's life.

She wanted him to turn himself in before some trigger happy cop. Better behind bars and dead on a slab. He of course didn't agree.

"I can't clear my name behind bars. I got to go find the man who screws with people's heads."

She remembered what Andrea had told them just before…she closed her eyes not wanting to remember the detective. She'd gotten both an IA investigation and a 21 gun salute funeral service since her death.

He didn't stay on the phone long after that and when she heard the click, she put it down and got back to work. She ignored the damn shoulder, she'd just been nicked after all. No big deal…now getting shot in the gut. That had really hurt…this she'd be out in the field soon enough.

Matt needed her, she'd focus on that right now. Everything else just had to wait.

* * *

Roy and Matt had just fled his house and his vegetable garden after someone armed with a gun intent on taking them out sent them on the run.

His uncle had listened to his crazy story that began when he'd been about to leave the office to take a much needed vacation to Hawaii. He'd been bone tired from a series of cases he'd been working on and the most recent? The one with the guy who was stupid enough to steal millions of mobster money, which had been his tipping point.

"You woke up a month later?"

Matt nodded.

"I didn't know it'd been that long until I talked to C.J. She was frantic when I called her. Said I'd been reported missing and she thought I was dead."

Roy digested all that.

"Then you found out you were accused of murdering Veronica Simms, the woman they found later?"

Matt went to pour himself some Scotch.

"Something like that. Then I got hypnotized by Andrea…"

"The officer who died."

She'd been more than that to Matt but he didn't want to get into the more personal side of what had happened to him.

"She got a lot of information. I was brainwashed, reconditioned by someone highly trained to reinvent a chapter of my life. Where does a man get that kind of skill?"

Roy sighed, sipping his own drink.

"A couple of places…"

Matt knew that mind control measures had been used in other countries including by covert organizations like the KGB and he guessed its US counterpart.

"You know anything about it?"

Not a casual question. Matt didn't know what his uncle had actually done while working in the CIA.

"I didn't do this kind of work if that's what you're asking," he said, "but what I did wasn't far off.

That's when their visitor had arrived and he'd meant to kill them. Roy fell back on his old skills and he and Matt got away just in time.

Now they were both on the run.

* * *

C.J. hung up the phone. She'd picked it up on the fourth ring, nothing on the other end.

Wrong number.

She went back to the computer. Chris walked into the room with Chinese takeout that she'd picked up for lunch.

If she didn't do that, then C.J. wouldn't eat anything. She'd been so busy trying to find something, anything that'd help Matt. She'd hit on a few leads following the thread that Andrea had started before she died.

"You got to eat," Chris scolded, "He's going to need your help at some point and when he does, what if you're too weak from hunger to do anything?"

C.J. wanted to roll her eyes but her friend had a point. She knew that when Matt needed her he'd get in touch with her. He'd find a way to do it so the authorities wouldn't know.

"You win…hand me the tangerine chicken and the mixed veggies…"

Chris did that and she took enough of both to put on a plate to give her some energy. She did feel hungry when the aroma reached her.

"I hope he realizes that you've been tireless since you got sprung from the hospital. I mean I haven't seen you doing anything else."

"He's my friend Chris…my very best friend," C.J. said, "I'd do anything for him."

Chris just smiled.

"Just don't go popping stitches," she said, "the doctor was very specific about that."

C.J. shrugged.

"I only did two. No big deal."

Chris reached for the broccoli and beef.

"Robert Tyler called. Sends his best."

C.J. did roll her eyes.

"Where's he now? In a Mexican prison or one in Guatemala?"

After all, he'd been getting in and out of scrapes since back in college. Switching his major to journalism from chemistry hadn't changed that about him.

"Neither… he shacking up with the weather girl at a news station in Vancouver."

C.J. shook her head.

"Same old Robert…"

Chris frowned.

"I thought you used to go out with him."

"Not really…Julie Martin, my friend did for a while."

"She called too," Chris said, "She told you not to worry. She's still in remission and the foundation's just got another huge federal grant."

C.J. smiled at that. At some moment when this was all over, she'd give her friend a call and catch up.

"She was worried about Houston…and you after you got shot."

"She knows?"

Chris snorted.

"The whole world knows," she said, "This whole escapade has been all over the news. There was a photo of you after you got shot in a newspaper in Milan…you know close to where Pam lives now. She saw it and she called."

C.J. sighed. She didn't want anyone to worry about her. This wasn't about her, it was about clearing Matt of murder charges so he could come home. So she…he…but she didn't want to even go there. She'd made some declaration believing her time on earth was narrowed down to mere seconds and then found out she would live somewhat longer.

"Some guy called too," Chris continued, "He said you hired him to do some work. I told him you'd call him when things calmed down here."

C.J. bit her lip. Not knowing whether she should wait or not to return that particular phone call. Maybe he finally had some definitive news.

No, she had to focus on helping her friend. Everything else would just have to wait.

* * *

Matt woke up with a start. He'd had Truman Masters on the brain and his old nemesis Elgin Cody before he'd hit the sack inside a bedroom in a nondescript motel off the highway. He was getting closer to figuring out what had happened thanks to Uncle Roy.

The two of them made a great team. Even his uncle had grudgingly commented on it. But they still had a ways to go.

But he'd been dreaming about C.J. About a summer night they shared years ago, when they'd been younger and willing to take a risk. The dream had been so vivid, he woke up still tasting her mouth and feeling the imprint of her hands on him.

He didn't know why she'd shown up like that but waking up back into the nightmare he'd been living, jolted him back to reality. The woman he'd shared everything with that night had nearly died for helping him.

Roy joined him from an adjacent room.

"Ready to get some breakfast?"

Matt nodded.

"Now that we know much more…we still need some help."

"You mean C.J.? She just got shot."

Matt sighed.

"I know…but we got to break this damn code and she's the best at it. I'll keep her out of it as much as possible."

Roy smiled.

"She really grew on you since we last spoke…"

Matt felt his face burn. Sometimes his uncle was too damn intuitive.

"We're close friends Uncle Roy. Always have been, always will be…"

Roy nodded.

"I'm sure…but she's family too."

Matt knew that because she'd grown up without parents to raise her and he'd still had his father, only he'd been adopted without knowing it.

"I don't think she ever got over losing her father."

Roy fell silent for a moment.

"That's the kind of loss a person never gets over. Just like when a father loses his son."

Matt watched his uncle walk back into his room, knowing that Will's death had left Roy outliving his son. He realized how alone his uncle was now…but he still had family. Matt knew that after this was all over, he'd have to find a way to rebuild his relationship with his uncle.

After all, they were the only two Houstons left. At least until Matt found a woman, married her and raised his own children.

Matt went to get dressed failing to see the shadowy figure outside the window.


	27. Chapter 27

Murray Chase looked frantic.

C.J. realized that while that seemed to be a normal look for him, this morning he'd been pacing the office all morning wearing out a new track in the carpet of the penthouse suite.

Right alongside her own. It'd been days since she'd heard from Matt who'd hung up before the call could be traced. She knew their own phones were bugged. Nearly every police agency in six states so far, the FBI, the ATF and god knows who else were all looking for him.

They actually thought that Matt had committed the ultimate sin. Murder of a police officer even though the bullet they pulled out of Andrea's left ventricle had been traced to a model of gun used primarily by six of the world's top hired gunmen.

"He didn't do it Hoyt."

Familiar words like a mantra when it came to trying to keep her best friend out of trouble She hoped that he stayed hidden. She'd been so worried about him she'd thought about calling his uncle with the news that his nephew was on the run. She just hadn't gotten around to it yet. But watching Murray now, in the midst of hyperventilating and waving his arms.

"I just got the latest stock reports and Houston Enterprises is going through the roof," he said, "Matt Houston, cold blooded killer or folk hero? I just don't know what to think."

_PEOPLE_ had come out with a cover story on the fugitive multi-millionaire who had once been its sexiest businessman alive, in the Fortune 500 category. Not to mention the sexiest eccentric man alive after learning that he ditched all that converting it into a charitable foundation to focus on his private investigative firm.

C.J. got up wincing as the damn shoulder still pained her. The bullet they had pulled out of her own arm had matched Andrea's. You'd think that would be enough because who on earth would believe that Matt would actually be ruthless enough to kill her?

They clearly weren't thinking…clearly.

"C.J. did you hear anything that I just said?"

She looked back from him while pouring some juice in a glass from the wet bar.

"Sure did Murray. You know Houston's innocent. This is all some frame job done on him. Ever see the film _The Manchurian Candidate_?"

"The what?"

C.J. sighed. Murray didn't get out much but she figured he at least might have caught it on late night cable at home.

"It's about….well brain washing and mind control."

Murray looked puzzled.

"What…is that what you think happened to Houston…during that month he was sleep?"

C.J. nodded.

"Andrea Flynn the detective did and now she's dead."

Murray just sighed.

"He really needs to find another hobby. You both do. I mean look what happened to you."

She rolled her eyes at him. Really he tried her patience at times and right now, her nerves were stretched taut. She'd been by the phone all morning thinking that this was the day he might call. God, how much she sounded like the typical woman. Only Matt wasn't her boyfriend…

It was much more complicated than that.

"Well we're just going to have a press conference," Murray decided, "Chris you still awake over there."

The secretary looked up from where she sat on the chaise.

"Sure am Murray. Ready to fire out the press release if you'd like but what's the point of holding it?"

The corporate president furrowed his brows in intense thought. He'd flown in on the red eye from business headquarters in Houston to deal with this crisis. The feds had been making some noise that they'd be investigating Houston Enterprises seeing if money was being laundered out of it to help aid and abet its fugitive CEO.

C.J. thought they were grasping at straws. Matt was smart enough not to be found, to remain one step ahead. Not that she didn't worry about him, but she had to remain focused until Baby stopped holding back on giving her the information she needed to help him.

Murray finally cleared his throat.

"So that they don't think we're hiding anything," he said, "Did you know I got a call from the United States Attorney's office asking us if we were funneling any money out to assist in him eluding the police?"

C.J. figured as much. As days passed, more and more law enforcement agencies jumped on the posse looking for Matt. She knew that the dark sedans parked in front of and down the street from the building were likely plainclothes cops or even G-Men.

"Murray it's just heat that they're putting on all of us in hopes we'll slip up and give his location away."

"But…"

"Hush Murray…"

She said looking around the office. The walls had ears after all and how damn silly was it to have all this technology used to track down a man like he was one of the terrorists he used to chase when working for military intelligence.

That meant that there was something that they were all missing. If Matt knew what, he sure wasn't telling them. He was lying low somewhere, she figured if he were captured or dead she'd heard about it by now.

She told herself that during the daylight hours over and over, but it was when she was lying on the couch in the office at night because she never went home anymore…well that's when she really missed him.

The fear that threatened to undo her, the same terror that she kept under wraps during business hours kept after her at night. But she couldn't succumb to it, she had to be strong for him and do what she did so well to try to bring him home.

* * *

Matt felt like the pieces of a huge puzzle were beginning to come together. Not only that, some of them were starting to fit together, interlocking into one larger canvas which revealed a sinister plot that had been concocted while his enemies sat in prison.

Truman Masters had been the key but the past day or so he and Roy had been struggling with several of the more stubborn pieces.

Some code that tied something called Winchester Road…Street whatever. This was like something out of a mystery novel of espionage not a simple act of revenge. Even Roy had been puzzled by it though they'd hit up a few of his old pals. Nellie Cochran who had retired like him and spent her days consulting and teaching Sunday School classes.

The world had changed too much for a lot of Cold War players including…but Roy had mentioned one in passing to Matt. When he tried to push him on it, Roy had shaken his head saying this ex-colleague of his wasn't able to help him. So Matt then thought of the one person who could do that.

C.J. back in L.A. though did he really want to pull her into what was becoming a more dangerous situation?

She'd been shot and nearly bled to death. If she had her way, she wouldn't have even let on that she'd been shot and sent him back into the building to get the blasted files that could help clear his name.

"You're going to call her aren't you?"

Matt just stared at his uncle.

"Nah…I thought about it but it's too risky. Cops are probably all over her and anyone else connected to me."

Roy nodded.

"That's probably true but I remember back when you were younger, doing puzzles, she was the only one who could make the connections, unlock the pieces and match them together. She's got that kind of mind that can do that…reminds me of…"

His voice faded off and he just sighed.

"Never mind…I think you should contact her. She's probably at the office."

"Not by phone…"

"No…in person. You do have an arrangement don't you?"

Matt nodded.

"Yeah…there's a way I can get in there without anyone knowing. I used to do that with Vince…a couple of times we were supposed to be at odds with each other…we'd set up a code so he'd know when to drop by the office."

Roy digested that. Matt had told him about his friendship with the former LAPD lieutenant.

"You best do it. You go alone. I'll head out to our meeting spot."

"Okay…"

"Tell her hi for me," Roy said, "I missed her."

Matt nodded again then his voice softened.

"Me too…"

* * *

Roy watched as Matt went to get ready to head to L.A. They'd travel together and then split up. Roy had to check out a few things on his own. He'd almost slipped up by mentioning one of his contacts but caught himself.

Didn't mean he didn't need the man's help. The knowledge he had on certain mind control techniques rivaled Truman Masters.

He'd wait until Matt had left him to contact him. It'd carry some risk but he didn't know what else to do. He felt responsible for looking out for the only remaining Houston.

He owed Bill that, even though he'd died before they could finally clear the air between them. His only son wouldn't be spending the rest of his life in a prison cell.

Even if it meant risking the opening of doors meant to stay closed forever.

* * *

C.J. lay on the couch that night, listening to the waterfall that was next to the spiral staircase downstairs. She couldn't sleep no matter how she tried and it wasn't just her injury. Chris and Murray had left the office hours ago, chiding her for working so hard.

Baby had proven stubborn and she'd sighed, turning the computer off for a little while. Perhaps a brief nap and she'd wake up refreshed and with a better perspective on the situation. The couch wasn't comfortable, not nearly as much as the bed downstairs. But just in case he dropped by…she didn't want to miss his arrival.

She thought of the past few months when she had felt barely able to stay afloat. What with Carl being tragically murdered by a man who'd been stalking her since her high school days. When she'd seen Christian Dean's nondescript photo in the yearbook, she'd barely remembered him at all.

He'd been in the drama club, tried out for the debate team, did a lot of reading. Then he'd come out of the shadows just when she'd been her happiest and taken it all away from her.

Just like her daddy had been taken from her when she'd been a little girl. One day, he'd been there eating breakfast with her, helping her with her class presentation, the end of the day…he just hadn't come home.

One brief moment, his car had exploded and her world had shattered in so many pieces. She'd moved on with her life without him and even when her mother died soon after, she'd managed to survive. If it hadn't been for the schooling and her working on the Houston ranch…she didn't want to think about that.

What could have happened to her. She didn't want to think about what could happen to Matt. God she needed to get some sleep. She couldn't remember the last time she'd done more than nap a few hours here and there.

She couldn't think of anything else but clearing him of these ludicrous murder charges. The man she knew would never hurt a woman let alone kill one. She'd known that as sure as she knew anything and there'd been times in the past several weeks when she'd reminded him of that.

Anything to get the pain out of his eyes, the type she came when he asked himself that same question over and over again.

Did he beat up Veronica Sims like some abusive jealous boyfriend and did he kill her in a fit of rage?

She'd remembered back last year to the real estate scam nearly pulled off by Elgin Cody and his pack of ruthless investors. They'd gone as far as hire a plastic surgeon to create a doppelgänger of Matt that nearly had her fooled. Had that happened again?

So many unanswered questions.

Then there was her proclamation of love for her best friend. She knew that the thought of dying without telling him those words had suddenly mattered more than anything. Of course, neither of them had died which meant they were still hanging out there, unanswered.

* * *

Matt slipped in to the suite through a secret entrance that very few knew about in the building. He looked down and saw her asleep on the couch and decided not to disturb her. She looked peaceful in slumber, no sign of the bullet wound that had sent her to the hospital.

She had protested the entire drive to the hospital how this had screwed up everything but it hadn't been a difficult decision to make. Her life wasn't negotiable.

He needed her to help him break the code to find out about Winchester Street but what he wanted was to wrap his arms around her and pull her close to him, embraced by the warmth.

The woman who'd said she loved him.

Though the words had slipped out extreme duress and he'd been too shocked to respond to them. Too shell shocked to even wrap his head around them but they'd been on his mind ever since. He walked downstairs to his office to sort through some files he had on the whole entire episode with Elgin Cody and his cronies not to mention a man named Virgil Wade.

* * *

Roy waited until the man on the other line returned to give him the information that he needed. Damn it was so risky contacting him through an unsecure connection. Not that he had any choice of course.

"So you know this Truman Masters? He also went under the name of Peter Delaney."

A pause.

"I do…I did some work with him not that I'm proud of it but you know how it went."

"Yes I did."

"I kept that from the family like everything else. But Truman did work on the side for clients. Only the wealthiest ones who could afford his services."

Roy hadn't told his wife or his son much of anything about what he really did for a living. His brother had never understood why he chose that kind of life. But it had been exciting…he needed something other than the military and he really felt like he was serving his country.

Most of the time.

"This client had plenty of cash and plenty of reason to go after my nephew. It's an old family feud."

The man sighed.

"Yeah I remember Cody back in my old life," he said, "His father hated your brother. Truman Masters would be the first on the list to be hired if he wanted to erase a chapter of your nephew's life and rewrite it."

"Old feuds die hard and it's looking that there's a connection between the two of them."

"You need me there?"

Roy sighed.

"Absolutely not. You stay put. This isn't your life anymore."

"I know that…but they made this personal. Truman Masters is a son of a bitch and he's not getting away with it."

"He won't. My nephew will make sure of that," Roy said, "He's back in L.A. putting it all together."

A longer pause.

"Your nephew…is he a good man?"

Roy smiled on his end.

"The very best…"

"I'd like to meet him to thank him for everything he's done but you're right, I need to live my life here."

Roy sighed again.

"I know it's tough…"

"No I don't think you do."

"I lost my only son," Roy said, "and my wife died not knowing everything I did when I wasn't with her and Will."

"I'm sorry. Life's a bitch isn't it? Well make sure that you take Masters out. I owe him."

"Will do…"

Roy hung up the phone and then got up to head on to the meeting spot to wait for Matt.

* * *

C.J. had woken, realizing that she must have nodded off and got up to pour herself some coffee. But they'd run out so she and Chris had gone down to the designer coffee spot down the street to get some lattes. She checked her messages, nothing from him and thought that she might try her luck with Baby again. She didn't know why the super computer was being so reticent with her information.

She and Chris got the lattes then came back to the suite. On the way, they saw the same black sedans with men just sitting inside them doing nothing. She smirked, thinking that when she and Matt had done surveillance on cases at least they had tried to look busy doing something.

The elevator opened and she walked out of it into the lobby. She frowned, something didn't seem right and the back of her neck prickled.

"Chris…"

They put the lattes down on Chris' desk and kept walking. Then she heard a noise and sighed. Someone had left Baby on. But she could have sworn she let Baby hibernate while they went and got coffee.

Sure enough she saw something on the screen. She turned to Chris.

"I didn't leave her on. Call security."

"Difficult enough for a man on the run…"

Then she saw Matt standing in front of her. She went to him without thinking about it.

"Houston…"

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, like they hadn't been apart for days. She'd missed him so much and he seemed happy to see her.

"Where you been…I shouldn't ask."

He looked around the office knowing what she eluded at but by the time the cops got up here, he'd be gone. She listened as he updated her on what had been happening while he'd been searching for information to clear his name. Her eyes widened when she heard Elgin Cody's name and this whole deal with Winchester Street.

"I'm with my uncle," he said, "He's waiting for me at the airport."

"When can I see you again?"

He sighed.

"When you broke the code. You're the one who can do it."

She nodded.

"I will…and then I'll contact you."

He looked at her then and she saw his train of thought had shifted. He wasn't thinking like a man on the run.

Then before she realized it, he'd kissed her softly on the mouth. Yeah it's not like that never had happened but she felt the difference. She kissed him back, all kinds of emotions racing through her. Then he pulled back stroking her face softly.

"Missed you…"

Then he was gone.

* * *

The Lear jet had to be fueled up and serviced before heading back to L.A. so they celebrated back in a bungalow on the beach in Hawaii. Elgin Cody and company had been rounded up and sent to jail. A couple other key players were located in other countries and were awaiting extradition back into the United States to stand trial with the others.

Matt sat and watched all his friends and family sitting and laughing together over barbecue outside the bungalow, feeling very happy. He'd never felt as tired but sleep would come later. For now, he watched as Murray excitedly chattered to Hoyt about their most recent adventure. Matt thought he might be looking at a new man and thought his company president needed to get out of the office more often.

"Every cavalry needs a Jewish boy in there somewhere," Murray had said, as reason for dropping his work on the quarterly reports and jumping on the Lear with Hoyt and C.J. to meet up with Matt and Uncle Roy in Oahu.

They'd all planned their mission and it'd gone smoothly and now Matt would get his life back. He'd spent some time trying to persuade his newly rediscovered family into spending time with him in L.A. before heading back to Santa Fe.

Roy agreed to think about it. Matt knew that their adventure had reinvigorated the man who'd proved instrumental in saving him from a prison sentence or worse.

But C.J. had been the one who'd broke the code…like it'd been nothing. She'd always been the smartest person he'd ever met. Looking none the worse for wear from her bullet wound she'd jumped in the fray without hesitation. Now she sat there drinking a beer and eating barbecue with the others, wearing a dress that hugged her figure. Damn she was beautiful, they didn't come prettier than her, her gorgeous hair loose around her face.

Resourceful and chock full of bravery and resolve as well. His heart swelled when he thought about all the people who loved him.

People he loved as well. Life was good, no life was great.

* * *

C.J. closed her eyes and snuggled against him as he finally slept. They'd be leaving in the morning to head back home. After the barbecue the others had gone to their bungalows leaving the two of them alone.

She wondered what he wanted. So much hung between them since she said those three little words when both thought they might die.

He didn't mention that.

"C.J. I'm sorry…"

She had poured them both some Scotch and handed him a glass.

"About what?"

"You got shot and almost died."

She snorted.

"I just got dinged. I'm totally fine. I can prove it to you."

His mouth curved into a smile.

"I'll take your word for it. I know how well Too Mean trained you."

"Damn straight he did and so did you."

He smiled and then put the glass down.

"Come here…"

She just looked at him a long moment before slipping easily enough in his embrace. He held her so tightly then almost like a life preserver. She held onto him too, resting her head against him.

"It's okay Houston…it's over and tomorrow we're going home."

He sighed.

"I never thought those words could sound so good. I asked Uncle Roy if he could stay with me for a while."

She nodded.

"That'd be good. He shouldn't head back to Santa Fe to his empty house."

Matt agreed. It wasn't until he saw Roy that he realized how much he missed having family around. But then he had C.J. who was family too. At least he had his uncle, she had no one left.

Not that she ever really talked about it. Now though, she looked at him with some reproach.

"Houston, you're exhausted. Why don't you get some sleep?"

He looked suddenly vulnerable behind that tough guy exterior that fooled most people. Yeah, he was as rugged and tough as they came but his edges had softened.

"This might sound like a bad come on but I don't want to be alone."

She stroked his face.

"Then I'll stay with you," she said, "so you won't be alone."

That's how she wound up snuggled against the man who meant more to her than anyone else. More than she sometimes admitted, except in moments of weakness. During those rare moments, she thought of all that she wanted to tell him, once she started it'd just spell out like a flood spilling over a dam.

Better not to say anything at all. After all, if you loved someone, invariably they died. Sometimes if you loved them too much, they died right in front of you.

If she didn't love him too much…he'd live. So just like always she kept her distance and her feelings locked away to herself.

Tomorrow they were going back to their old lives. That'd have to be enough.


	28. Chapter 28

The man showed up on time to take her out to dinner. She smiled at him and went to grab her purse while he waited.

"I booked us for two at a corner booth at the Zen Garden."

She nodded.

"That sounds lovely. It got rave reviews in the press especially its sushi."

He smiled wildly, his blue eyes dancing.

"Nothing but the best for my girl."

She put a hand on her hip and eyed him.

"I'm not your girl Robert," she said, "I'm just agreeing to this date because you are relentless."

He sighed.

"C.J. if I had known how beautiful you had become during our time apart…I would have applied for the reporting job here sooner."

She tilted her face.

"Oh really…well I agreed to dinner…but that's all," she said, "and only if you'll give me something in return."

His mouth twitched.

"Oh and what's that?"

"We stop by Wilshire Memorial Hospital and check in on Houston."

Robert Tyler narrowed his eyes.

"Between the two of you, don't you have a special wing there?"

She rolled her eyes at him. After all that joke had long gotten tiring for both her and Matt. Yes they had an exorbitant amount of money there but that came with the line of work both had chosen for themselves.

"C.J. you and Houston…you don't have anything going on do you? I promised him in college I wouldn't poach on his turf…at least not without asking first."

She folded her arms.

"No. I don't have anything going on with Houston. We're best friends and Robert, I took you for a lot of things but never a sexist…"

He chuckled not disturbed in the least to be called that.

"Oh C.J. you haven't changed at all have you?"

She sighed.

"Yes I have Robert but not in any way that's going to help your cause."

He looked at his watch.

"We'd better get going. You sure about seeing Houston?"

She shot him a look.

"Okay, okay we'll drop on by," he said, "I haven't caught up with him lately. Is he still the lady killing playboy he was back at Rice?"

She shook her head.

"He was never that and you know it," she said, "God knows he bailed your sorry ass out more than once. How many jails have you wound up in during your travels anyway?"

He looked chagrined but she could tell he was enjoying himself. Truth be told, she was enjoying herself too.

"Not too many lately," he said, "I've been a good boy but it's part of the job. It's all about getting the story."

She listened to him talk about that as they left her house to head to his car.

* * *

Matt chafed at the bit, or he would if he'd been a horse. He'd been hospitalized with a knife wound for three whole days now and the doctor still wouldn't cut him loose. The man who'd sliced him had also kidnapped girls and molested them, some of them wound up dead.

Some of them never turned up at all but were still missing. The faded posters with their photos on them still remained on the bulletin boards and windows of different places. But the man who'd been responsible for inflicting so much grief on his victims' families had finally been taken down.

He'd gotten injured in the process but he'd rescued Kathy Hoyt who'd gone home to her parents. Her father, Lt. Mike Hoyt had nearly thrown everything way, his career, his marriage in his desperation to find her before she wound up buried in a shallow grave somewhere or discarded on a hillside. Matt had nearly sacrificed his life.

Nearly wound up locked behind bars himself. He'd do anything for his family and friends without asking.

"I don't know how to ever repay you Houston," Hoyt said, "If I'd lost my little girl."

His voice nearly broke, a rarity for the tough as nails business as usually career cop. He'd visited Matt in the hospital after they'd stitched him up.

"How's Ann?"

Hoyt sighed.

"I thought she'd have a nervous breakdown," he said, "In some ways she'd tough, rolls with the punches like a cop's wife. But she's fragile too."

"Now that Kathy's back home…how's she doing?"

Hoyt looked away.

"She doesn't talk about it much…stays in her room a lot…has nightmares."

Matt nodded.

"It'll be like that for a while but she'll get through it. Give her time, and plenty of love and security until she feels safe again."

Hoyt arched his brows.

"That's right. You went through it too."

Matt grimaced.

"Yeah I did. I was younger than her…and it took a long time. My father was away a lot on business. I think he felt guilty for a long time. I met C.J. a few years later. She was the first person I really talked to about it."

"How old were you when you met?"

"About 12. She was the new kid in school. Some boys tried to bully her because her mama and daddy died. She beat a couple of them up when they tried something and they left her alone after that."

"So Too Mean didn't teach her how to fight?"

Matt shook his head.

"Someone taught her how to care of herself," he said, "She sure knew how. She took care of me. I told her things I never told anyone. Hopefully that will happen with Kathy when she gets older."

Hoyt sighed.

"I hope so. Who was that new reporter that showed up at the press conference?"

Matt sat up straighter in his hospital bed.

"Robert Tyler…just got hired by a local network. C.J. and I went to college with him. He just showed up in L.A. two weeks ago."

"He seems like he knows what he's doing. The other reporters knew that too."

Matt hadn't seen the press conference but on television from here. He'd seen Robert front and center with his camera men asking the really pointed questions. Certainly not dancing around the issues of a serial child molester turned killer who'd finally been apprehended.

Kathy was lucky. They'd never caught up with the man who'd kidnapped him years ago back in Texas.

"C.J.'s been spending time with him," Matt said, "They never really got along when we're growing up. She always seemed to just put up with him."

"You worried about that Houston?"

Matt just blinked his eyes.

"No…no not at all."

It had unnerved him a bit to see her behavior towards the silver tongued never do well friend soften whenever he saw them together…usually when they bumped into each other while visiting him.

Hoyt stood up.

"I'll let you get back to sleep…"

"I don't sleep in hospitals."

"Then harass the nurses…but I can never thank you enough for what you did for my family."

Matt shook his head.

"You're family Hoyt and family helps family."

Hoyt sighed.

"Goodnight Houston."

"If Kathy needs someone to talk to about what happened…she can come to me. I've been there too."

* * *

C.J. and Robert sat eating sushi at the Zen Garden. Not her idea of great food but he had raved about it. He'd ordered a sampler plate for her to try out.

"The California rolls are great but the spicy salmon I think those are the best."

She'd thought they tasted fine enough and the green tea wasn't bad. He'd proven to be an interesting date. He'd had so many adventures that she and Matt hadn't know about when they fell out of touch and he loved talking about them.

He asked her questions like the journalist he was about her life. She found herself sharing more than she thought she would…realizing that he could get any subject of a story to talk about anything. So damn persuasive and yet unassuming in demeanor that he could probably get someone to confess to being Jack the Ripper by the 11 o'clock news.

"So you seeing anyone?"

She blinked her eyes a bit startled.

"Why?"

His dimples on his cheeks appeared, his eyes sparkled like those of a little boy.

"Because I'm quite smitten with you…"

She narrowed her eyes.

"You can't be serious Robert."

"I've never been more serious."

She chuckled. She couldn't help it. Ever since they had known each other, they'd been the thorn on each other's side with only their mutual friendship with Matt to bring them together.

"Robert…"

"I didn't believe in love at first sight."

"Love?"

"Okay serious like then…C.J. I have been in relationships with many women…comes with the profession and the journeys I took but none of them were serious…"

She shook her head.

"Robert…you've only been back in L.A. several weeks…"

He shrugged.

"What does that have to do with it? What the heart wants, it wants and C.J. I'm beginning to grow up and realize what I want and that's a woman like you."

"Like me? Robert you don't even know me. Not really."

Robert sighed.

"Is he standing in our way?"

She felt puzzled.

"Who?"

"You know who…Houston…you're not harboring feelings for him are you…not still?"

She felt the old prickles of irritation. He wasn't seriously bringing _that_ up again. He'd teased her often about having the hots for her best friend, something she always denied. But what bothered her now was that it was true and it'd taken a scrape with death to realize it.

She sipped her tea thoughtfully.

"Even if I did…he doesn't feel the same way Robert. We're friends, best friends and that's all. That's all we'll ever be."

He nodded.

"Okay now that it's settled, will you go out with me? C.J. I promise I'll do my best to make you forget him."

She thought about it. Robert seemed like a fun enough guy and it looked like he'd matured a bit and became more settled.

"All right…I'll give you a test drive but that's all."

He arched a brow.

"Test drive? You mean…"

She shook her head.

"Same old Robert."

His face looked more pensive and she saw a trace of weariness in it.

"Not exactly…"

* * *

Matt got poked and prodded by a nurse who wasn't one of the attractive, young women who'd been checking on him during the night shifts. This one was somewhat older, wearing a stern expression and she told him straight up she didn't want any nonsense from him.

Try to bail from the hospital early and she'd strap him to the bed.

His eyes widened.

"But I was just going to the cafeteria for some exercise…not home. The surgical scrubs fit better than this damn gown."

She wagged a finger at him.

"Enough Mr. Houston. I've got rounds to do but if you're not here when I come back, there's going to be hell to pay."

"But…"

"You understand? And stop flirting with my nurses…they are here to provide medical care not to give you personal massages…"

He sighed.

"Vanessa just wanted to help ease out a leg cramp…"

"Enough! Now get some rest…"

She walked on out of there and he shook his head. It's not like he'd dated a nurse since Erin had gone postal on him last year. Then he looked up and saw a young boy standing there.

Nathanial.

"Hi there."

"Hi Houston…you look better."

He smiled at him.

"I feel better…now that Nurse Ratched is gone. Good to see you."

Nathanial just nodded and walked in and sat in a chair.

"You almost died…"

"But I didn't and Kathy's safely back home with her family. Thanks to you."

Nathanial shrugged slightly.

"You've been a great help to me lately…I wish there's a way I could thank you."

Then he noticed that Nathanial held a book in his hand.

"What you got there?"

The boy handed it to him. It was a copy of a book his father had read to him growing up.

"_To Kill a Mockingbird_…it's a great book."

Nathanial took it back and shrugged again.

"I got to read it for school. It seems okay. No car chases or cowboys in it."

"No…but it's filled with important stuff about life and getting along with each other."

To put it simply…but Nathanial nodded.

"The man…he's real."

Matt stroked his chin.

"There was a movie about it. Gregory Peck played the main character, the father."

"No…in the real world, between the shadows. He's waiting and watching…"

He saw _that_ look in the young boy's eyes again and the hairs rose on the back of his neck. He proceeded carefully.

"Okay…I'll keep an eye out for him."

Nathanial nodded and seemed like a normal boy again.

"I got to go. My mama's waiting for me."

"How's she doing?"

He smiled.

"She's got a new job, more money so we can build a better house."

Matt felt happy about that. He knew how hard it had been for the woman to raise a special child like her son but she loved him fiercely. Matt wondered if he'd have children of his own to love like that someday.

He watched as Nathaniel left the hospital room. His book resting on his chair left behind.

* * *

C.J. sighed as she listened to Matt explain all the reasons he needed to be sprung from Wilshire Memorial. God, he was even worse than she was when it came to staying in bed.

"You got caught sneaking out twice," she said, "Houston why didn't you try the freight elevator? You'd at least make it to the back parking lot."

He frowned.

"Haven't thought about that…but C.J. I got cases piling up and paperwork to sign."

She smiled at him and reached into her bag to pull out a thick wad of papers and dropped it on his bed.

"No problem…I had Chris and Margie fill out most of it and all you need to sign where all the arrows are…nothing to it."

He frowned.

"Damn…but besides that, what about the field work on the new cases?"

She brushed a strand of hair back and Matt noticed she looked different.

Radiant.

"Don't worry about that. Uncle Roy and I are handling most of it and Too Mean's pitching in at double his daily salary."

"Double? He'd have made a great mercenary."

She sat on the bed, wearing a pair of faded jeans and simple tee-shirt looking as beautiful as ever.

"So what you been up to C.J. when you're not putting in hours at the office?"

She smiled widely.

"Oh I've been pretty busy. Robert and I…"

He frowned.

"Robert…as in Robert Tyler?"

She nodded.

"You know Houston he's really not as bad as I thought. We've been going out for a week now and I didn't think I'd ever say this but I think I like him."

Uh oh. Matt didn't know how he felt about that.

"You really like him?"

"Yeah…he's funny and he's the greatest storyteller. I had no idea that he'd been all those places. I mean we just get phone calls when he's in jail."

Matt sighed.

"C.J….you know he's a love them and leave them guy when it comes to women…"

"Birds flocking together Houston…"

Ouch.

"I know I'm not much different which is how I know how to recognize that type of guy."

She sighed.

"Look Houston….I'm going into anything with him with my eyes opened. I'd hoped you'd be happy for me."

"I am…but C.J. are you sure?"

She paused.

"Yeah I'm sure. We're going to the Hollywood Bowl tonight to a concert."

Matt forced a smile.

"Okay then have a good time…"

She nodded.

"We will…and you get a good night's rest. All my phone calls from the hospital are going straight to voicemail so if you try to escape, you're on your own."

He gritted his teeth.

"Those weren't escapes C.J…they were exercise."

"Yeah…sure Houston…I'll see you later."

She kissed him, nice and chastely on the cheek and then with a turn of her heel she was gone.

* * *

Roy sat next to his nephew's bed listening to his travails about how every doctor and nurse at Wilshire Memorial was out to get him.

"You need some perspective nephew," Roy counseled, "They're just wise to you that's all."

Matt sighed seriously wanting some sympathy from his uncle right now, not another lecture. He'd just received one when he'd told him that C.J. and Robert were now an item.

"They seem happy enough together. Is that a problem for you?"

Matt felt taken aback.

"No it's not Uncle Roy. I just don't want to see her get hurt. Robert's not serious when it comes to women."

"And you're assuming C.J. is going into this wanting a wedding proposal? Maybe she just wants something in her life besides working with you."

Matt pressed his lips into a line.

"I know that Uncle Roy. I just care about her…that's all."

Roy bit back a smile.

"Yes you do. But she's a grown woman and has her own life to live. She's got a lot of common sense and she'll be just fine."

"I know…"

"But you'll worry anyway and get yourself an ulcer like Lt. Hoyt."

Matt didn't respond to that. Often times, Hoyt had testily accused him of giving him ulcers. Like his predecessor Vince had done. Matt had been pretty sure both were joking…most of the time.

Roy frowned suddenly and Matt saw his eyes fall on something.

"What's this?"

Matt followed his eyes.

"Oh that it's a book."

Roy nodded.

"I can see that Houston. I didn't know you were passing the time here by reading in between escape attempts."

Matt bristled.

"I didn't leave it here. Nathanial did…"

Roy fell silent then and something in his eyes…Matt didn't recognize. But then he hadn't seen his uncle in a long time.

It unnerved him…but then in a moment it was gone.

* * *

C.J. sighed as she collapsed in her bed next to Robert. When she'd gone out with him tonight to the Bowl, she hadn't thought that they'd wind up at her place having a nightcap.

Let alone that they'd wind up hitting the sheets together. Yet after the first round of Scotch in her living room, they'd wound up kissing.

The man knew how to kiss, and he did it like someone who'd hungered for something for so long. She responded just as vigorously, smoothing her hands over his back frustrated by the fabric that separated her from bare skin.

Then the clothes started coming off and settling on the floor while they took it to the bedroom. She sunk on the mattress and felt his weight on top of her.

"Oh God, you're so lovely," he said, between fervent kisses. She just sighed so inundated with sensations she was unable to speak. He settled between her thighs and she clung to them and him as he filled her up.

She hadn't been with anyone…not since Carl but she could never mistake the two of them. She gripped Robert's shoulders as he started moving against her and she met him each time arching her body. The elation which filled her thrilled and yet unnerved her. Being him was different than any other guy, in a way she didn't understand.

But she didn't want to even try, all she wanted to do was feel. Every single nerve fiber in her body wanted that. Robert obliged taking her to some pretty exhilarating heights…pushing her so close to her edge she almost felt like pulling back.

"God I'm so close…what about you?"

"Oh yes Robert….yes…."

Then they both fell into the abyss together but neither cared.

Afterward, she rested against him, still breathing hard. Robert lay there, his body glistening with exertion like hers.

"God C.J. you're incredible…do you know that?"

Her skin flushed with delicious warmth.

"I'm incredible…that was…"

She couldn't put it into words right now.

"So I'm the best you ever had then?"

She paused…thinking back and remembering one other night with a different man.

"I…well…"

"It's okay, we haven't even hit the highlights yet."

She stroked his damp chest.

"The night's still young…"

He sighed in obvious contentment. She looked at him, how handsome he'd always been…that had never been the problem. Yet he seemed to have matured since she'd last saw him. He didn't appear to be quite the same Robert Tyler that had to be bailed out by Matt and her. Maybe just maybe…this might work out.

She still had to be cautious. She remembered she couldn't ever fall in love with any man. After losing her father…no she couldn't go down that road again.

"Robert…"

"What is it sweetheart?"

She paused.

"You miss your parents?"

He sighed, as he'd never really talked about them much.

"They both split up when I was a kid," he said, "My father didn't really want children…he was too focused on conquering the business world…my mom…"

His voice faded and his eyes held a turbulent cast. She stroked his face.

"Look if you don't want to talk about it…"

He shook his head.

"My mom…she just never really understood. I haven't seen her in over 10 years."

She nodded processing that.

"It works for me. I mean you lost both of your parents didn't you?"

"Yeah when I was a little girl…"

"You turned out great without them," he reasoned, "So will I…"

She wanted to say, _Robert you are already great_. The tone in his voice told her no.

"I suppose…I just wish I'd had more time with them," she said, "and when my mom died I wound up a ward of the state and went into foster care."

"That sounds rough."

She shrugged.

"Finally they found an uncle…my mother had a brother that was estranged. I think it had to do with her marrying my father."

"So you stayed with him?"

She nodded.

"I spent most of my time working on Bill Houston's spread and worked hard in school when I knew I wanted to go to Harvard Law School."

He smiled with pride.

"Graduated first in your class…headed the Law Review and clerked with one of the most…well notorious defense attorneys out there."

She felt reflective. Yeah she'd done all that and more but...something had always been missing inside of her. A piece of her that nothing would replace. An emptiness she forced aside most of the time.

"You'll continue to do great things and so will I. There's a whole world out there after all…"

Then she heard his cell phone ring and he looked at it.

"I got to answer this…be right back."

He kissed her and then got out of bed, as she admired his physique. The one she'd explored with her hands and other parts for the first time.

Robert clicked on his phone and his voice changed.

"I think I'm about ready to start putting our plan in motion," he said, "Wire them the money and let's get started…"

He clicked off the phone and thought, I'm ready to hit the big leagues now and I'll do anything to get there without looking back.

But as he looked back at the woman lying in bed, he thought, I never expected to fall in love along the way.


	29. Chapter 29

_The night skyline of downtown Los Angeles sparkled like diamonds from the 14th floor penthouse suite of Houston Enterprises as the four of them returned after a night spent dining at a favorite restaurant in Chinatown._

_C.J. had picked it remembering how much she'd like to meet up there with her college friend Connie Ling before that woman's murder two years ago. When she went there, she remembered the fun times they had catching up over a delicious meal. Tonight she'd been with her boyfriend Robert Tyler double dating with her best friend Matt and his Uncle Roy. It'd been a very festive occasion but her eyes had been on her new boyfriend who'd come to L.A. to take a reporting job at a local network and swept her off her feet in the process._

_He wasn't exactly new. She and Matt had met him while attending Rice University. While Matt had been a star quarterback and business major, she'd been an honor student who studied pre-law and pledged a sorority. Robert had been a film major who aspired to produce documentaries and lined up more than one fellowship to pursue his craft._

_But he'd been a bit carefree and reckless leaving Matt and C.J. to clean up after him at times, something that actually bonded them more closely._

_The four of them went out on the roof area. Robert holding C.J.'s hand. While the men were in black tux, she wore her new white gown that she'd picked up at a boutique in Century City._

_"They sure don't throw parties like that back home Houston," Robert said, "Made me feel like a visiting dignitary."_

_"Oh that you are," Matt said, "We had to do something to celebrate your six week anniversary here in Los Angeles."_

_Roy proposed a toast._

_"To at least six more I hope…"_

_C.J. raised her glass to Robert._

_"To at least 60 more."_

_Soon it was like only she and Robert were standing on the helipad gazing into each other's eyes as they sipped their Scotch. At some point, Matt and Roy had headed on out giving them their privacy._

_The two of them strolled to the edge of the building to look out at greater L.A._

_"Robert I'm so excited about tomorrow. The most famous recluse since Howard Hughes…I mean he's turned down Barbara Walters, Dan Rather but he's agreed to talk to you."_

_Robert just smiled at her._

_"I have got more important things on my mind."_

_"More important than preparing for an interview with Richard Daniels? Daniels doesn't just give interviews to anybody."_

_"I know but right now I'm distracted by something that I want to say to you."_

_"Sounds serious."_

_"Yeah, it's amazing how I can be so witty and urbane in front of television cameras," he said, "but standing here in front of you my stomach getting butterflies."_

_"Why?"_

_"When I came to L.A. I was determined to concentrate on my career," he said, "of course I knew that you and Houston were here but well, I didn't expect to fall in love with you."_

_Now C.J. felt some butterflies in her stomach._

_"I know I'm not as classy as some of the guys that you dated," he said, "I know I'm on the treadmill trying to cog my way…"_

_"And you will…"_

_"C.J…I want to marry you."_

_To say she felt overwhelmed by his words was an understatement, she didn't know what to say._

_"Does that mean no?"_

_She almost felt speechless but she finally found some words._

_"No…I mean no…it means I don't know what to say."_

_He sighed._

_"Well say yes; say you need time to think about it but whatever you do, don't take too long. I don't think I could stand it."_

_She smiled softly._

_"I'm tempted to give you an answer now but the lawyer in me has trained me to examine the evidence first."_

_He smiled deprecatory._

_"Trial by jury…so what are my chances?"_

_"I'd say you have a sound case."_

* * *

Matt sat in the penthouse suite drinking some Scotch after he'd returned to finish some dreaded paperwork on some cases with Uncle Roy. They'd been on a lower floor test driving a brand new security system.

When they got back up to the suite, C.J. and Robert had already left. Matt had been teasing to his uncle when he said they might be hearing wedding bells soon. But he felt that whatever was going on with an old friend and his best friend was moving way too quickly.

After all, as far as he could recollect, they hadn't ever gotten along that well. What the hell was happening here?

He eyed the Jacuzzi but hit the chaise instead with his glass. Roy poured himself a drink and joined him.

"You upset about something?"

Matt glanced at his uncle remembering how razor sharp his instincts had always been thanks to his career.

"No…just spent a great evening out with friends…eating the best steak in L.A. and now I'm sitting back talking with my favorite uncle."

"Your only uncle."

Matt shrugged.

"Okay…isn't this a bit sudden her and Robert? She never seemed to like him that much growing up. Of course after she had to argue bail for him a couple times…I think she got irritated."

Roy just looked amused at his nephew. He seemed clueless about what everyone around him had figured out years ago. Bill had commented on it before their falling out. Roy knew his brother hoped they'd get their heads straight before he died. Two such intelligent people…oh never mind. He just sipped his drink listening to his nephew wander around in the dark.

"They clearly have worked their differences out," Roy said, "You should be happy that C.J. found herself someone special being a close friend."

Matt bristled at his uncle's tone.

"I am happy for them," he said, "Losing Carl…she wasn't the same after that. But Robert…he's good looking and charming…always knows what to say. But Uncle Roy, he's always getting himself into trouble…one escapade after another and we have to bail him out."

"She's a smart woman Matlock. She can take care of herself. You know that or you should…"

"Uncle Roy I get that but Robert dropping into L.A for an anchor job and then going to C.J. to sweep her off of her feet…"

Roy shook his head bemused. Matt was sharp about a lot of things but his feelings for his best friend just wasn't on that list.

"They seem happy together."

Matt fell silent. He certainly didn't begrudge C.J. for wanting to be happy after everything she'd been through in the past year. Losing a close friend, getting shot, losing her boyfriend and getting shot. She was overdue for good things in her life but he had his doubts about Robert…and it had nothing to do with what his uncle might think.

It wasn't because he was jealous. Robert had always been in scrapes since both Matt and C.J. had first met him and more often than not, he needed his friends to swoop in and bail him out of trouble. Though he appeared set on a more steady course in his life as of late…maybe he'd put his immature antics behind him.

"I think I'm going to take up golfing," Roy said, "I remember they have a lot of award winning courses here."

Matt half listened to his uncle. He'd settled into a rental house in West L.A. in a quiet neighborhood a short commute from the office. It looked like his uncle was going to stick around for a while and he felt happy about that…his only living relative close by rather than two states away.

"L.A. Country Club's got the best course," Matt said, "I played a couple charity tournaments there."

Roy listened to his nephew, then picked up his cell phone. He saw that someone had called him an hour ago. He got up from his chair.

"Excuse me, I have to return a phone call…"

He walked out of the room.

* * *

C.J. sighed as she flopped on her bed wearing her favorite silk pajamas. She'd be alone tonight because Robert said he had to pull an all-nighter preparing for a gala he was covering tomorrow. The reclusive billionaire Richard Daniels was hosting a surprise birthday bash for his beloved wife Barbara. Robert and a news crew had been assigned not to only cover the party but to do an exclusive interview with Richard that Robert had finagled after weeks of back and forth negotiation with the publicity shy tycoon.

He'd asked C.J. to join him to see him in action doing what he loved in his new job. She'd eagerly agreed and looked forward to it. It wasn't a date or anything real serious, she was just tagging along with him on an assignment. She'd witnessed him in action so far during the Kathy Hoyt kidnapping story and thought he'd handled a difficult story with both skill and sensitivity. The first, didn't surprise her but the latter did knock her through a loop. Maybe after all these years, Robert finally had changed, becoming a mature adult.

But as she lay on her bed, all she could think about was his proposal of sorts. Not really official just that he wanted to marry her at some point when he was more settled in his career. A part of her wanted to say yes, let's do it but that part of her didn't make her decisions. She'd fallen so hard and fast for Robert and it'd been so unexpected.

She'd never dated him before, never considered him more than a friend who made her laugh when she needed it and who still had the little boy inside of him even as he showed her he'd had career ambitions. They'd just decided to go out to dinner casually, mostly to get him to stop asking her. They hadn't been that close growing up as he'd mostly been a buddy of Matt's.

She'd started dating again not long after Matt's name had been cleared of murder charges and he'd come back home from life on the run. His uncle had shown up too which had delighted C.J. as she'd always been fond of him back in Texas. Roy had been a recluse in New Mexico where he'd moved after retiring from being a covert operative along with his wife Flo. She'd died in her sleep one night and their only child had died in a war fought on foreign soil not even leaving them with a body to bury at the military cemetery.

Roy had settled into life here and he'd played a large role in Matt's investigative agency. In fact, he working on cases with his nephew had freed up C.J.'s time to do other assignments like handling the legal side of the company.

Sometimes she missed working out in the field with her partner and best friend, but watching him interact with his only living blood relative, she didn't want to deny him that experience. She'd lost everyone in her own family and even though she felt a part of Matt's family, there were times she felt alone in the world.

She buried herself in her legal challenges, flexing her Harvard Law School education. She'd also had to recover fully from getting shot while trying to clear Matt and then when she thought death was imminent, she'd told him that she loved him.

God, she wasn't sure why she'd done that now. They'd survived leaving a burning building in a hail of gunfire and he'd never really responded to her declaration of love. She didn't really expect it, after all they'd never been anything but close friends…time to move on with the rest of her life. If that's what led her to look at Robert in a different light, what was wrong with that?

Still marrying him…such a big step and would she be ready to take it…and why did the thought fill her with both excitement and trepidation?

* * *

Matt woke up in the morning and ran 10 miles on the bike path in front of his house past the Santa Monica Pier where fishermen gathered with their tackle and past Venice Beach where surfers headed out into the water with their boards.

He'd tossed and turned all night. The restlessness had begun when he and Roy noticed a lull in their caseload, leaving them time to wrap up some paperwork and close out the completed investigations. So he'd spent most of his days sitting at his desk which he disliked signing forms and filling out ledgers. C.J. spent time in her own office on the phone working the mornings before Robert dropped by and took her out to lunch for several hours, more than enough time for a sit down meal in most local restaurants.

His own social life had picked up after the women started calling him again once the media outlets took his time spent trying to prove his innocence on murder charges and ran with it. More front page stories and magazine covers, an appearance on _Good Morning L.A._ He'd attracted the types of women who fantasized about being damsels in distress needing to be rescued, intertwined with those who liked to date bad boys.

Matt didn't get it but being accused of murdering someone actually attracted a certain type of women to him. He went out most nights and occasionally brought a woman home for a nightcap and then some between the sheets action.

Nothing serious. He wasn't into serious right now after what he'd been through the last several months. After decompressing from life as a fugitive dashing from one burning or bullet ridden building to the next, he was ready to settle down for a while building upon his reputation as the wealthy playboy looking for the next good time.

The estate was quite impressive as she and Robert walked the grounds. She didn't wear anything fancy, just an orange pantsuit and a belt. She was so excited watching the guests begin to arrive while the final arrangements were being made to make it a festive occasion. A chance to see her boyfriend in action doing what he did so well.

Mostly they stood there kissing each other, forgetting everything else until a network technician came up and interrupted them, telling Robert that it was time to interview Richard Daniels at the house.

"I'll be right there…thanks."

He apologized to C.J. but she just grinned.

"Well a reporter's life is filled with interruptions."

"I'd better hurry unless I want to be demoted to weatherman."

She chuckled thinking that highly unlikely. His coverage of the Hoyt kidnapping was rumored to be under consideration for an Emmy nomination for breaking news coverage.

Then he kissed her goodbye…for now and they wrapped arms around each other as they walked away towards the interview of his career. Damn she was so proud of him and he looked so dashing and sexy in his suit with his devil may care smile on his face. When they were done here, he'd have to go back to the station to supervise the editing of his interview footage and then air it later that evening. Afterward, they'd be meeting for a late night dinner at the Formosa Café to celebrate a most glorious day.

First things first, he had to do the interview with a man who'd hired enough burly bodyguards to discourage any news reporter or paparazzi from even approaching him. Today, she noticed that the billionaire looked happy as he approached them, welcoming them to the birthday party as if they were friends.

Robert hooked up with Richard and with cameras on them both they walked together while Robert asked him questions. Starting with rumors that the former tycoon had become a recluse.

"Well if I'm a recluse, it's just that I found a reason in my happiness and I make sure nobody disturbs that happiness."

Simon looked over as Barbara, Richard's lovely wife joined them.

"And that reason is of course you're lovely wife…Ms Daniels, what'd happen if tomorrow your husband lost all his millions?"

She just laughed, her eyes sparkling and on her husband.

"I'd go out and get a job..."

C.J. watched him do what he did and loved best and saw how much he thrived on it. She looked over the vast estate as three clowns pushed what looked like a multi-tier birthday cake on a cart towards them. One clown bounded up to Barbara and knelt as if asking her to dance and then swooped her up in his arms for a waltz around the grass. She seemed a bit surprised but enjoyed it as the cameramen followed her. Spinning around and twirling her as she smiled. C.J. could tell she was a fun loving woman as she watched her.

Suddenly gun shots tore through the air, interrupting the gaiety. C.J. widened her eyes as she saw that the dancing clown had a gun and his grip on Barbara had become menacing.

Finally he spoke.

"Don't anyone try to be a hero."

"This is a kidnapping…"

The other two clowns in the background pulled out guns and fired them causing people to nearly panic though the only people who moved were the camera man capturing it all on video.

Suddenly Richard stepped forward.

"Now look. I'll go with you. I'll do anything you want but leave my wife alone."

Suddenly the clown saw the camera aimed at him and rushed towards it striking it with his arm.

"Turn that thing off."

The clown wrestled with Robert and flung him on a table filled with refreshments and it toppled over on top of him. C.J.'s adrenalin kicked in and she rushed towards him shielding him with her body and pleading with the kidnappers.

"No please…please…"

She didn't want him to get shot by them. The lead clown seemed indecisive about what to do, just staring at her and Robert, the gun in his hand. Then he backed away and joined the two other clowns who had grabbed Robert. C.J watched the clown leave them thankful that he hadn't fired his gun at either one of them.

When Richard lunged towards them, the lead clown blocked him as they shoved Barbara into a huge white truck with "Three Ring Catering" on the side.

"We'll call with instructions."

The lead clown joined the others and the truck raced off, away from the stunned partygoers. C.J.'s heart thudded in her chest as she and Robert got on their feet. He ordered an associate to call the police and then grabbed a microphone from a camera man asking him if they were live.

Then he did what he did best.

"This is Robert Tyler live from the scene of the Barbara Daniels kidnapping…"

C.J. watched him amazed at his cool professionalism as if he hadn't just had his own life threatened. She could barely stop her hands from shaking. More concerned about him than herself. Had she almost lost him?

The man in front of her coolly reported the story as if someone hadn't just pointed a gun at him and threatening to use it.

* * *

Matt sat with Roy in the sports bar eating chicken wings and drinking some beer. They'd closed out a dozen old cases and brought the database up to current. It'd been as boring as watching paint on the side of a barn dry but it was over and done with for a couple of months at least.

They'd taken off to catch the Astros and the Dodgers at the bar owned by one of Matt's former clients and realized quickly it was going to be a long night for Houston.

Roy shook his head.

"They really need to get out of this slump," he said, "by the time they finish this road trip. They're not going to be welcomed back."

Matt sighed. He always took it hard when his baseball team was in the midst of a prolonged losing streak.

"You know I almost bought a share of them…but then the Oilers came up for sale."

Roy chuckled. He knew though Matt played a lot of team sports, football was truly his passion even though he'd never turned pro after winning the Heisman.

Suddenly a news broadcast interrupted the bottom of the seventh inning and Matt widened his eyes as he saw jerky camera movements depicting what looked like a ruckus at a fancy part. What looked like clowns were running around brandishing guns.

"What the…"

Then he saw the angle change and damn if it wasn't Robert on the ground with C.J. next to him. He saw what looked like fear in her eyes, tension in her body.

_"No please…please…"_

Matt felt like jumping out of his seat. What the hell? He'd heard C.J. talking about how she and Robert would be attending a birthday celebration in Bel Air. Then he saw the camera pan to Robert who'd coolly started giving a report on the kidnapping that had just taken place involving Barbara Daniels right in the middle of her party.

Barbara Daniels, Barbara Daniels…wait a minute didn't she usually have a cadre of security men around her and her husband? Then he saw the lead clown bearing a gun board a big van and realized it had been some sort of inside job.

"Uncle Roy…"

But his uncle had already grabbed the check and started heading to the cashier. After they did that, they headed to the car to drive off to find out what in blazes had happened.

"I doubt they're still at the mansion," Matt said, "Maybe the precinct….being interviewed by the cops?"

Roy shook his head.

"I think we'd better head straight to the television station where Robert works. I suspect that's where we'll find them."

Matt took off in the Mercedes burning rubber down Vermont Street towards Hollywood.

* * *

Later at the KPRW television headquarters, C.J. watched in a sound area as Robert served as anchor for the news broadcast. He calmly announced that they would be showing exclusive coverage taken of the kidnapping of Daniels' wife.

C.J. watched what she'd seen live broadcast to viewers everywhere.

"According to FBI and local authorities no ransom demands had yet been received…"

She figured that soon enough the kidnappers would call Richard with their demands that would have to be fulfilled before Barbara's release.

Robert looked so solemn.

"More news after this commercial break..."

She watched him take his break; drink some water as a makeup artist fussed over him. She'd been trying to relax after the events of that afternoon. Yet the adrenalin hadn't ebbed out of her yet, she still felt on edge and she felt worried, no scared for him. He'd looked straight into the kidnappers' eyes and shown a camera on them. Damn lucky they hadn't executed him on the spot for putting them on the air so they could be more readily identified.

"C.J…"

She turned around and saw Matt and Roy enter the sound area. A sight for sore eyes, she hadn't thought to call him so he must have heard about it or seen it on the news.

"Oh Matt, thanks for coming."

She rushed to meet him and he hugged her tightly giving her a kiss. He held onto her arms looking into her face. His eyes widened, the expression obviously concerned not that she needed that right now. Robert was the one who'd be in danger not her. Not to mention Barbara Daniels who'd dropped off the face of the canvas given that the kidnappers had yet to contact anyone demanding a ransom or anything at all.

"We heard about the kidnapping are you all right?"

"I'm just a little bit shaken up," she said, "He feels guilty about it...responsible."

Matt looked incredulous.

"It's not his fault."

A nearby technician picked up the phone and then called to the news desk.

"Robert…I got a woman on the phone that says she's Barbara Daniels."

That caught everyone's attention. Robert looked over as makeup artists continue to fuss over him.

"What?"

"She said the kidnappers want her to read you a message on the air."

C.J. and Matt looked at each other, wondering why the kidnapper contacted Robert.

"Well how do you know it's really her?"

"I don't…what should we do?"

Robert thought fast as he sipped his water.

"Ask her the name of her dog."

The tech did that and then said back, Marzipan. Robert sighed.

"Oh boy that's really her…All right Bill I'll take it live."

Matt and C.J. just stood together watching it unfold. Everyone's eyes were back on Robert as he narrated that during the break, Barbara Daniels had called.

He picked up the phone.

"Barbara Daniels are you there?"

"I have to read a statement from the kidnappers."

She added that there would be discussion of a ransom and Robert was to be the go between.

"The kidnappers want me to be the go between?"

"It goes on to say we'll call you at your home tomorrow Tyler…no police…no FBI…no interference of any kind or we'll kill her."

Robert jotted this all down on paper.

"Please tell my husband that I love him…"

Then the phone went dead. C.J. felt fear in her chest as she watched Robert call desperately on the phone.

"I don't like this."

She left Matt and he and his uncle soon followed her as she went to see Robert. He seemed okay from his experience and excited that he'd be on the front lines of a major kidnapping story.

"I've got a ton of prep work to do…can I see you later?"

She watched as employees buzzed around him and left with Matt and his uncle. She felt scared suddenly, not able to bear it if anything happened to him. Robert had always been a bit reckless and she wondered if this time it might get him killed.

God, what had she done by allowing herself to fall for another man who embraced a dangerous lifestyle?

* * *

Matt took her out to dinner partly to get her to relax. She knew he worried about her, that hearing on the news that Barbara Daniels' party had been interrupted by kidnappers had caused him concern knowing she'd been there.

She'd gone home and changed while he waited for her and then they took off to a quiet restaurant where they clinked glasses. Not that she felt any gaiety, her mind still replaying what had happened at the party.

"I wish Robert was here with us."

"Well romance conquers all except requests from the FBI and the police…"

She sighed, fear filling her and she knew she couldn't hide it from Matt because he knew her better than anyone.

"It's scary how I feel about him Houston."

Not easy words to say, because they tapped into far back in her life. The parts of it she never talked about with anyone…not even the man in front of her. She'd taken her memories of her family and stuck them away like you'd do with photos in an album. Only she left them on the shelf, never to look at again. It just hurt too much, brought it all back again to revisit the past. Better to focus on the here and now, including this day, when now she had to worry about her boyfriend's safety.

"You love him?"

He waited patiently for her answer.

"I think so…It's just that it's been sort of an ongoing thing since I was a little kid and my dad died. I think I'd been afraid to love anybody too much…Afraid they'd be taken away from me."

She knew he knew her history from the day her father died to losing her dear boyfriend Carl to a stalker a year ago.

"Well I'm still around."

She laughed affectionately, taking his hand and squeezing it. He's been the one constant in her life after all and she loved him more than anyone. She even loved him in that special way but she'd put that on the line once and well, she guessed he didn't return her feelings. She could live with that because he'd been her best friend.

"Look C.J. if you really love Robert…and he loves you as much as he seems to then I can't think of anything else that really matters."

"Nothing does…"

But ambiguity pulled at her anyway.

"It's just that I'm afraid to lose him and if he's going to meet with those kidnappers Houston…"

He interrupted.

"Well I know a pretty good private eye who probably offer some discreet protection…"

She smiled at him.

"What would I do without you?"

He held tightly onto her hands with his own looking at her.

"Probably pay for the dinner."

They lifted their classes to clink together.

"Cheers."

But as they got up to leave, she wondered to herself, what would she do without him in her life? She felt more than uneasy about this whole kidnapping deal Robert had gotten himself into which reminded her of his exploits since college. But at least with Matt there, he'd be safe.

It turned out that this was only the beginning…


	30. Chapter 30

C.J. got the phone call in the middle of the night. Lt. Hoyt had called her to say that someone had attacked Matt inside the penthouse suite, and that person had gotten away.

"Is he hurt?"

She heard him sigh on the other end.

"No but it wasn't for lack of trying C.J.," he said, "This man whoever he was lay in wait to ambush him as he got off the elevator. He meant to take him out."

She felt stunned.

"But…but why? Yeah…silly question. Houston's got a list of enemies who've sworn revenge against him that'd rival a social register. Does he have any idea who did it?"

"No…not that he's saying and I don't think he's keeping it close to the chest," he said, "He's on Baby doing the usual backgrounds to come up with a list of finalists for the likely suspect list."

"I'll get dressed and go help him," she said, "It might take all night."

A pause.

"C.J. he's fine. He even got a few punches in before the guy split. You don't have to drive all the way out here so late at night."

"I'm on my way Hoyt."

She got off the bed and changed into some jeans and a long sleeved cotton shirt, leaving her curly hair hanging loose. She'd been out to eat with Robert earlier, after he left his job early after putting in a hard day's work researching who might have kidnapped Barbara Daniels. They didn't have much to go on and the police seemed stumped. Yeah there'd been a ransom demand but the meeting kept getting postponed…which meant that they were planning on doing something more than swapping a billionaire's wife for enough money to set them up in another country without an extradition treaty.

Robert put himself in the middle of that and it scared her. It angered it too because of that, and the fact that at any moment she might lose him to a group of ruthless kidnappers. But then Robert reported some great news, he was offered a key anchorman position at a top network in New York City. She felt so happy for him despite the turmoil around them.

Matt had been keeping a close eye on him but he'd not seen anything threatening to the reporter so far.

Now Matt had just thwarted an attempt on his own life. What was the world coming to these days?

She put on her boots and headed out to her car.

* * *

Roy shook his head as Matt nursed a bump on the head. He'd nixed an ice pack not wanting to be coddled, heading instead to query Baby for the answers he needed on the super computer. Damn, he needed C.J. right now who could sweet talk Baby into surrendering information better than anyone but no point in waking her up.

"I don't think you should be hitting the Scotch."

Matt looked up where his uncle was pouring a glass of it.

"I said I'm fine and it's going to be a long night because I take serious exception to anyone who tries to punch my number. I know…there a lot of names I have to check out…about 250 suspects that have to be accounted for and Baby can do that."

Roy nodded and brought him a glass as well as they both sat on the couch in front of the computer screen.

Matt nursed his glass looking a bit troubled.

"You know I thought it was strange when I found out his biggest career break happened after he wrote up a kidnapping story for a newspaper back East."

Roy sighed.

"I told you there's such thing as a coincidence but did Robert know you were checking it out?"

Matt blinked his eyes.

"Wait a minute…you're not thinking. He couldn't have anything to do with what happened tonight. It has to be related to a different case."

Roy sipped his drink thoughtfully.

"Would this be the first time you didn't know someone as well as you thought you did?"

Matt didn't have to think hard about that. He'd had a friend or two…or more betray him. Then they heard the elevator door open.

"Who's…?"

C.J. walked into the lobby and headed straight to the lounge area. She glanced over at the two men before pouring herself a Scotch.

"Houston…are you okay? I heard someone attacked you."

He pursed his lips exchanging a look with Roy, then he smiled at her.

"I'm just fine C.J. Not a scratch."

She arched a brow at him.

"Okay maybe a small bump on the head but I'm fine. Uncle Roy and I are just running through some checks on Baby."

She walked over to sit in a nearby chair.

"How'd the other guy fare?"

Matt paused.

"I got some blows in but he got away. The police are out looking for him."

She nodded.

"Houston…do you have any idea who might have tried to kill you?"

More looks between Matt and his uncle.

"No…it'll mean sifting through the usual list of 250 plus suspects from every corner of the globe."

She shrugged.

"Comes from you being such a popular guy," she said, "You don't think it has anything to do with Andre do you?"

Matt shook his head.

"No, he wants to take me out, he'd do it in person after a long and very showy buildup," he said, "No I scratched him off the list early."

She frowned running a hand through her hair. She looked gorgeous for having gotten out of bed to rush down here and check on him.

"I'll help you…and don't say no," she said, "Besides you're helping Robert so I'd like to return the favor as if I need an excuse."

Matt rubbed his forehead with the fingers on one hand, feeling uneasy now. Way too premature and too little information to broach the subject with C.J. about her boyfriend.

* * *

C.J. could count all the times she'd argued with her best friend and business partner on one hand, well maybe both hands. When they fought, just as well it wasn't too often because he could be so damn stubborn, so obstinate…so like a man. But then she knew she rivaled him in stubbornness, even so the times they did argue, they knew if they walked away from each other, it was just to cool off, to get some space.

Not this time, not this afternoon.

"_You'll have my resignation letter first thing in the morning."_

Had she really said that to him? Of course she had but he's been so stubborn…and so wrong about Robert. Her boyfriend, one of his best buddies from way back in college couldn't have engineered the kidnapping of Barbara Daniels…just to further his career.

"_Houston I thought you were my friend. My best friend…"_

He just looked at her.

"I am your friend. I'll always be your friend. I'm just trying to help you."

He'd tried to touch her shoulder but she flinched. She didn't want him near her right then. She clearly hadn't known Matt as well as she thought even after all these years.

It had all started when she'd returned to the office and saw Matt, Roy and Hoyt of all people in the lobby.

"What's going on here?"

The men just looked at each other, uncomfortably. Fear filled her…oh my god, something had happened to Robert, something awful…she didn't know about.

"Robert's okay isn't he? I just spoke to him not long ago."

Matt glanced at Roy.

"He's…fine. But we need to talk to you about some information we discovered on Daniels' kidnapping."

She put a hand on her hip waiting.

"Tell me what you know. Because if it'll help keep him safe…"

Matt paused.

"It has to do with a man named George Davis."

She narrowed her eyes.

"So…who the hell is he and what does he have to do with Barbara Daniels?"

He sighed and proceeded as cautiously as he knew how.

"Nothing…except for the fact that his own wife was kidnapped about a decade ago across the country. There was an article written on it and the byline belongs to Robert."

She shrugged.

"So what? He was working in a newspaper back in New England back then. He wrote a lot of stories, did time on the cops beat."

Matt really needed the deep breath that he took and he exhaled slowly. What he said was going to hurt the woman that he least wanted to hurt…and it was going to make her angry.

"George Davis was the kidnapper in the park. I think that Robert planned the whole thing."

She just stared at him in disbelief. What nonsense to even suggest such a thing simply because his byline appeared on an article of another kidnapping years earlier.

"Maybe he just looks like him…"

Matt shook his head.

"No C.J. it's him and having to tell you this…but I know I'm right."

"So he set up the whole kidnapping of Barbara Daniels…Houston that's just crazy."

The rest of the conversation after that blurred in her mind. She'd accused him of coming up with such a preposterous theory out of blind jealousy he harbored because she'd found someone who'd made her happy. That had happened after he told her he'd been responsible for the attempt against his life for getting too close to uncovering the truth about him.

Hoyt had tried to explain it all as a man consumed by ambition and money at all costs but she refused to believe that.

Then she'd done something she'd never thought she'd ever do, walked away from the best friend she'd ever had, for good.

What had she done? Now as she sat on her bed, alone because Robert had to spend more late night hours preparing his latest broadcast, she'd never felt so lonely in her life.

At least not since she'd stood on a patch of frozen earth on a cold, dark morning lost in a crowd of mourners listening to the eulogy given by a minister at the graveside of her father. The days after he'd blown up in a car bombing had melted together in a canopy of visits by well-wishers, her mother sitting in a chair surrounded by friends and trays of food prepared and placed on tables along with bottles of wine and coffee urns.

She hadn't even known Matt then. At that time he'd still been withdrawn inside himself recovering from a nightmarish kidnapping.

* * *

The next morning she woke early having not felt like she'd even slept. Realizing as soon as she woke up that her world had changed. She got dressed and ate breakfast before meeting Robert at the television station.

Today would be the day of the ransom exchange. They just needed to get a time and location where Robert would meet up with the kidnappers. God, she knew how dangerous that could prove to be…so many opportunities for something to go terribly wrong.

Yet as worried as she was…should be about Robert, she couldn't stop thinking about Matt and what happened yesterday. She missed him, like a piece of some integral part of her had been ripped away. What was she going to do now? She'd walked away from her career and her friend at the same time, so what next?

She felt at a loss but she was so pissed off at him for the accusations he'd made about Robert. To suggest…no insist that the man she loved had done some terrible amoral thing…it just shook her to the core. That she could have been so wrong about him, a man she'd known well since…they were a lot younger. They'd shared everything together, they'd trusted each other and always were there when the other needed them. How many times had she sat by his bedside when he'd been injured and he'd done the same for her?

Then there'd been that one unforgettable night they'd spent together…her skin flushed just to think about the intimacies they'd shared before she locked those memories alongside those of her family. As for him, he didn't talk about it much either.

Now she'd walked away from him forever…for a man she'd been involved with only six weeks. But a man she'd fallen in love with more quickly than she thought possible. She'd made a choice but had it been the right one?

Robert walked up to her dressed for action and slid his arms around her kissing her softly.

"You're a sight for sore eyes this morning," he said, "I really wanted to be with you last night but the FBI grilled me on every detail of this operation so it can go off without a hitch."

She nodded, his safety and that of the hostage mattered more than anything else. There'd be plenty of nights for them to spend together.

"You ready to go? They'll be barricading the street off but I think they'll let you stay with the feds and the police."

"Robert…you will be careful won't you?"

"Of course darling. I'm always careful but a woman's life is at stake and for some reason the kidnappers believe they have a rapport with me. I have to do my part to help bring it to a safe resolution."

She rested her hands on his chest looking up at him.

"Of course. I suppose Houston will be there too."

Robert sighed.

"I imagine so. Look what he told you…his suspicions. It's just crazy talk. He and I go way back…all the way back to Rice. Why on earth would I want to kill him?"

She hesitated. Yeah it seemed illogical to say the least. Matt had to be wrong in his suspicions about Robert.

"It's just that he seemed so adamant that you were involved," she said, "and that you have some connection to George Davis."

"Davis? Oh the supposed kidnapper he recognized. Why on earth would someone whose wife was abducted become a kidnapper himself?"

"Why indeed…"

Robert tilted her face with his fingers to look straight at him.

"C.J., Houston's a great investigator but he's wrong this time about me," he said, "I had nothing to do with the Barbara Daniels kidnapping. You do believe me don't you?"

She paused then nodded slowly. He smiled widely.

"That's my girl…well we'd better get a move on," he said, "Don't want to show up late do I?"

She tilted her face looking at him carefully.

"No you don't do you? I'll see you afterward and Robert…be careful."

He smiled again and adjusted his collar.

"Always my darling…"

* * *

Matt paced in the room, running a hand through his hair thoroughly frustrated. Damn no one seemed to believe him. He'd stood inside a room with Robert and the kidnapper and watched his friend take out a gun and shoot him dead…without provocation. Just to tie up loose strings. Police heard the gunshot and reacted…but Robert standing over the dead kidnapper insisted it was to protect not only himself but Matt from getting killed.

Even Hoyt seemed to buy it though Matt couldn't ever be sure about him. C.J. had stood with him behind the police car watching it play out and he didn't say anything to her…if he did, she might walk away from him again.

She looked worried when Robert walked out and got into an argument with Matt. He noticed that she didn't rush up to defend her boyfriend but just stood a distance away watching them both.

Now he sat back in his house with Roy watching the blasted newscast where Robert detailed the release of Barbara Daniels and the shootout in dramatic fashion.

Shootout…yeah right. But he was the only witness and no one seemed to be listening to him. Everyone seemed caught up in the fact that Barbara had been released unharmed into the arms of her joyous and relieved husband. So the kidnapper had wound up dead and zipped up inside a body bag. Who cared, as most people might think he got what he deserved.

Roy shook his head.

"He's quite convincing. Very charismatic. He'd made one hell of an actor."

"Actor is right. He gave an award winning performance today. He's got everyone fooled."

Roy shrugged.

"Don't be too sure. The police might be sitting back and waiting for him to slip up. It's all conjecture and it looks coincidental, no hard evidence yet."

"The evidence is lying dead in a drawer in some morgue. Robert had to kill him."

Roy sipped his drink.

"He'll get caught. They all do…he'll outsmart himself."

Matt looked at his own glass.

"'The way he shot that guy…just to protect his own scam. It was so cold Uncle Roy…the thought of C.J. anywhere near that guy…but she won't even talk to me."

Roy didn't look as concerned.

"I don't think you'll have to worry. C.J.'s a very smart woman. She got angry with you and she walked away in the heat of it. But she's thinking long and hard about her boyfriend right now. She'll figure it out."

"I hope so. If anything ever happened to her…It's hard just sitting here and doing nothing."

Roy sighed.

"If you went over there and tried to get her to see it your way, it might backfire. Better to let her come to the realization on her own. She's a woman more than capable of taking care of herself. Robert would have his hands full with crossing her."

Matt didn't even want to think about that. But he knew his uncle spoke wisely. C.J. hated being told what to do or treated as if she were incapable of figuring it out herself.

He just hoped it happened in time

* * *

C.J. sat outside enjoying the warm evening on her back patio. She'd planted more flowers after Carl's death needing to keep busy. Now, she sat watching Robert's broadcast of the successful resolution of the Daniels' kidnapping on her television.

So neatly wrapped up with Barbara safely at home with her husband and Robert earning accolades for his courage under fire. The bigwigs at the network in New York definitely were interested in snagging him up before other networks entered into a bidding war for his talents.

He wanted her to leave L.A. and go with him to New York to begin a new chapter of their life together there. He seemed nervous when he asked her but she wondered if that was just for show. She'd been watching him much more carefully since she learned he shot the kidnapper.

Matt had sworn it wasn't self-defense…why would he say such a thing? The accusations made against Robert by him were worsening. She'd already walked away from him…why was he so relentless about painting her boyfriend in such a bad light?

She saw him approach her, looking triumphant but tired and after kissing her, that's when he'd fielded the question.

"Robert…I'm so happy for you that you got the job…but this is all happening so fast and I don't know if I'm ready to uproot my life."

He stroked the hair out of her face.

"C.J. it might be just what you need now that you and Houston…well you walked away from him and I know it was difficult but it's his decision to make these wild accusations about my character. Why…it's slander really…"

"He doesn't seem to think so. He seems to really believe what he's saying about you. He's never done anything ever as long as I've known him to hurt me. Sometimes I think he tries to protect me too much but…I just can't come up with a solid reason why he'd lie to me."

Robert just looked at her a long moment.

"You're not going to accept my proposal…to join me in New York are you? Your verdict is in."

She hedged.

"I just don't know…I've been thinking about him, all the things I said to him, harsh things and Robert, I'm wondering what he's thinking about me right now. He's always been my best friend and now…"

She didn't finish. What she shared with Matt was between the two of them, she didn't need to explain it to anyone.

"You miss him?"

She nodded.

"Yeah I do…but there's no fixing it. After all the things I said…"

"You did it to defend me C.J. and he was wrong about what he said. It's madness to think I'd want him dead for any reason…let alone this crazy theory he has of me engineering kidnappings to further my career. I'm ambitious but not that much."

She hoped so…she knew so because otherwise, she'd be looking at something akin to a sociopath. There's just no way she'd fall in love with a person like that.

"I don't know why I did it…"

She didn't watch him as he left the patio and soon she was alone.

* * *

Matt sat at midmorning by the bar sipping his coffee, not really tasting it. Roy sat next to him reading the daily newspaper, musing about the baseball team standings.

"He shot the man right in front of me in cold blood."

"Self-defense he called it."

Matt shook his head.

"Hardly…was he getting rid of his witness. Tying up the loose ends of his scheme. I'd seen him pull some crazy acts but this…I never imagined he had it in him."

Roy just shrugged. He'd been the first to ask him how well he really knew Robert Tyler. His answer to that question had changed a lot in the past several days.

That's when he started quoting Yogi Berra. Matt just sighed sipping his coffee.

"He won….I lost…the worst part of it is that I lost C.J. along the way."

Then he heard a familiar voice from behind him. He hadn't heard anyone arrive.

"Talking about me again?"

A lot of different emotions in that voice but reproach wasn't one of them. Neither was anger. He turned around to see C.J. standing there looking too damn real. It had to be his imagination. But as he watched, she remained there not fading away back in his mind. She smiled at him, but had some wariness in her eyes.

She didn't approach him but she didn't walk away. He blinked his eyes.

"You're back…"

"Sometimes the truth is difficult to accept."

He sighed.

"I never meant to hurt you."

She nodded.

"I know I never should have doubted that. It doesn't make it hurt any less Houston."

He bridged the gap between them by walking towards her and sliding his arms around her, bringing her close to him. She rested her head against him, relaxing into his embrace. He cupped her face in his hand so glad to have her back again.

They just remained in that moment while Roy talked about how a woman he'd worked with on a covert operation had not been what she'd appeared. Even beyond the usual spy versus spy environment in his profession. C.J. glanced at him.

"Did she betray you?"

He nodded.

"She loved me too. She just had a funny way of showing it."

C.J. brought herself back to the present, shunting aside her emotions to focus on the pragmatic.

"So what do we do now?"

Matt glanced at Roy.

"C.J. you've been through enough already," she said, "Why don't you let Uncle Roy and I handle it okay?"

She vetoed quickly. If she'd been feeling up to it, she'd have snorted in derision but she simply shook her head.

"No I want to be a part of it, I need to be a part of it."

With that, the planning to bring down Robert Tyler and his career ambitions began.

* * *

C.J. froze in her tracks inside the motel room. She'd dressed up, picking her own disguise right down to the big hat and sunglasses.

Only she wasn't C.J., lawyer and girlfriend to Robert Tyler. She was the wife of the recently deceased Robert Davis who'd been Robert's accomplice in the kidnappings.

C.J. had been expecting Robert to show in the motel room to ambush her after she'd dropped by the television station saying that no, she couldn't accept his marriage proposal but she'd give him information to help him. He'd listened as she told him about Davis' wife who'd known all about what her dead hubby had done…in fact she'd kept tapes of certain conversations that her husband had with Robert about the kidnappings.

All lies of course, fabricated as bait to lure him into a trap set up by the three of them. But he didn't know that. He thanked her for giving him the information but he also asked why.

She walked over to him and kissed him on the mouth for the last time. Damn despite all he'd done, it seemed bittersweet. She'd wanted so much to believe in him, that the man she'd fallen for had really changed. The pain that threatened to rip right through her, well it'd just have to wait. She forced a smile on her face, by remembering the earliest days of their whirlwind romance.

"C.J. why are you helping me?"

She looked straight at him, memorizing every detail of his face. It'd be the last time he'd look at her with affection and love. But then she realized that he was incapable of truly experiencing either, after all the definition of a sociopath was a person who lacked empathy. That was the real Robert Taylor.

She smiled at him.

"Because I love you…"

She thought of that when he'd pointed a gun at her back that she could feel even if she couldn't see it. His voice dropped to a menacing whisper as he threatened to kill her to keep her quiet. She braced herself by taking a deep breath before she turned around to face him after removing her glasses.

"Even me Robert?"

His face changed then from the cold mask to something akin to anguish and she wondered if he regretted threatening her or realized the full extent of her betrayal.

"You set me up."

For one second though, she thought he might pull the trigger but instead he just stared at her.

"Damn you C.J. we could have had everything we ever wanted…"

He threw the gun at the mirror which turned out to be a one-way window used in vice stings conducted by the LAPD.

Robert saw Matt and Roy standing there and knew he was in trouble.

* * *

C.J. got out of the awful disguise and slipped into the shower at home. It'd been a long interview with Matt dunking Robert into the marina and him being hauled off dripping wet in handcuffs while news crews showed up en masse to cover the downfall of one of their own.

As C.J. left the motel to join Matt, she overhead a couple of reporters talking.

"That really is Robert Tyler," one said, "He could have been the best in the business. Now he's going to spend the rest of his life in prison. Heard the DA's indicting on murder and conspiracy charges."

The other reporter shook her head.

"He'll probably get an agent and a book contract out of it," she said, "He could still make out quite well even behind bars. Probably wind up in some country club style minimum security prison."

Hoyt had shown up to supervise the cleanup with his detectives processing evidence and officers interviewing witnesses. C.J. suddenly just wanted to get out of there and head on home. Matt and Roy could handle wrapping up things here, they had proven to be a great team.

After showering, she grabbed some sweats and a shirt to wear while she worked outside pruning some plants in her garden. She'd spend a couple hours doing that and then whip up some fajitas in the kitchen. That and a couple margaritas would help her relax before she even attempted to sleep tonight.

The adrenalin had ebbed away leaving her tired but her mind still wound itself up tight, rehashing every moment of her romance with Robert. At what point had she missed seeing something so vitally important, a clue to his true nature…what detail had escaped her attention that would have warned her that he wasn't what he appeared to be.

She heard someone knocking on the door before she could even make it to the patio. She opened the door and there stood Matt dressed differently than he'd been that afternoon.

"What are you doing here?"

He walked inside the door.

"Checking up on you like you'd do for me in the same situation."

She remembered the times she'd helped him heal his broken hearts including the harrowing loss of the woman he'd nearly married some years ago.

"Houston…I was about to get something to drink. Would you like to join me?"

They walked into her kitchen where she went to get two glasses.

"Scotch?"

She shook her head.

"No apple juice. I like to take my sorrows sober."

"Works for me."

He digested that as she went to the frig to get some apple juice before pouring it into the glasses. They each took one and walked out into the patio to look at the sliver of moon in the sky, some stars but not nearly as many as lit up the sky back in ranching country in Texas.

"Is there anything I can do?"

She thought about it while he stood there waiting.

""I loved him Houston."

"I know…"

"I told myself I wouldn't but I did. Okay maybe he's not dead but he's going to die in prison after doing some pretty terrible things."

Matt couldn't deny it.

"C.J., Robert had us all fooled," he said, "I never saw this coming…that's one reason I had such a hard time telling you."

She sipped her juice.

"Hmm…let's see you could erase the last six weeks and glue my heart back together."

A tall order she knew but he smiled, settling his hand on her back.

"Tell you what. Would you settle for reservations for two at Marcele's?"

She brightened. That was one of her favorite restaurants on the Westside. She slid her arm in the crook of his arm, leaning towards him.

"Houston I thought they were booked for weeks in advance."

"I was persuasive."

C.J. could imagine how much.

"Oh you were were you…Houston I don't think they're even open tonight. They're closed on Mondays and Tuesdays."

Busted! But he covered it up with a smile, and she just shook her head. The man was full of surprises even after these years together.

He put his hand up.

"Oh boy I was really persuasive."

She chuckled at that and leaned against him as they walked inside her house to head to his car. He really was the best friend, the closest thing she had to family in her life.

The radio in the living room played with Love Songs on KOST as they left the house.

_I can't believe that you are real…how did I ever find you? You're the dream that saved my life. You are the reason I survive…"_

* * *

Roy sat at his desk in the office at Houston Enterprises. Matt had left early to take C.J. out to dinner, a different restaurant somewhere in L.A. each night…for as long as she needed to get through her breakup with Robert.

They'd both left in the helicopter to fly to San Diego to hit a favorite barbecue spot there. C.J. had seemed more like her old self as time passed. All of them were bracing for the preliminary hearing that would take place the following week.

It seemed that Robert hadn't been done grandstanding. Instead of taking a plea bargain that would send him to prison for no more than 20 years he'd decided to plead not guilty and go to trial.

C.J. had received her subpoena to testify on his behalf from the defense attorney representing him if that could be believed. Matt had been of course on the witness list for the prosecution.

Roy thought the whole thing would turn into a circus before it reached a trial date with the media outlets including the one who had employed the defendant started camping outside the jail where he remained locked up, without bail.

He had turned on the TV to catch the tail end of the Dodgers/Giants series and just as the batter scored a homerun in the bottom of the ninth, a breaking news alert flashed across the scene.

A woman holding a microphone stood in front of what looked like Twin Towers Jail with a grave look on her face.

"_This is Crystal Pennington of KAGB standing outside the Twin Towers where earlier today, former news anchorman turned jail inmate Robert Tyler was found dead in the rec yard of undisclosed causes. He had been held there without bail pending the preliminary hearing on murder and conspiracy charges next week. An autopsy is expected to be conducted but at this point authorities at the jail aren't listing a cause of death. Where it was murder or suicide is anyone's guess at this point but it's a tragic end for one of the fastest rising stars in the news industry…."_

Roy switched the TV off and went to refill his drink, his stomach tightening. He sipped it slowly thinking back to years ago when he'd worked a special ops assignment with a cadre of men. Most of them, he hadn't heard from in years. But not all of them. There were ways to kill a man that couldn't ever be traced to anyone…that would fool a coroner into believing that a death was accidental or a suicide if that's what it needed to be.

Truth was, they might never figure out what happened to Robert. The man could have made himself a target to old enemies to obsessive fans trying to build their own notoriety. Which would it be? Who would have done it?

He heard the sound of his cell phone vibrating and even before he read the text, that's when he knew.


	31. Chapter 31

She came to her as if in a dream. Standing in front of her as if she were really there. But C.J. frowned to herself that can't be. This can't be real.

After all her mother had died years ago.

Still, the young woman with the long dark hair and eyes which saw everything stood there in the mist and spoke with her.

_"I've watched over you every step of your life," the woman told her, "We both have and we couldn't be more proud of what you've become."_

_C.J. just looked at her mother, still not believing she was there._

_"I wished you were there," she said. "I've missed you both so much."_

_Her mother sighed and it floated on the breeze._

_"You've had your friends…"_

_C.J. nodded, knowing that but a huge piece of her life had been missing. Something that nothing nor anyone else could fill within her._

_"I still feel so alone sometimes."_

_Her mother continued to stroke her hair, the way that she knew she must have loved as a child if only she could still remember. She actually felt the warmth of her mother's hand against her skin. _

_"You're not alone," her mother said, "You have a man sitting right beside you right now who loves you and wishes you'd come back to him."_

_C.J. looked around her in the garden but saw no one else._

_"Not in this world," her mother said, "in the one you left."_

_"You mean Houston?"_

_Her mother smiled._

_"He'd give you his own life if he could," she said, "You are that special to him."_

_C.J. just looked around her._

_"It's peaceful here," she said, "so unlike the other world."_

_Her mother tempered her reproach with loving patience._

_"This isn't where you belong," she said, "You've got a long life ahead of you with people who love you."_

_C.J. turned to look at her mother._

_"But what about you?"_

_"I had a very happy life with your father," she said, "I wish it had been longer but that's just the way the cards are dealt."_

_"It's not fair."_

_"Life's not fair," her mother said, "but it's still there to live as you choose."_

* * *

C.J. awoke with a start. Darkness surrounded her inside what looked like a hospital room. She heard the beeping sounds of monitoring equipment and when she tried to move, she felt pinned to the bed. A stream flowed in from an open door and the silhouette of a man sitting in a chair next to her came to view even before she felt the grip of his hand in hers.

He looked fast asleep as more details became visible as her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. She felt movement as he woke up and blinked his eyes, looking down at her.

A smile warmed his face erasing the lines that formed there. He reached with his free hand to stroke hair off of her face. Sensation permeating her skin, overwhelmed by emotion. His eyes sparkled and she noticed the traces of a beard on his face.

"Houston…"

The single word passed through her lips with difficulty, her throat felt so dry. He responded immediately.

"You're awake…you've come back…"

* * *

**Earlier…**

The day had seemed perfect for sailing. Matt had asked this woman he'd met at a charity golf tournament to go sailing to Catalina Island with his uncle later that morning. Roy had reconnected with a woman he'd known back when he'd been courting Flo years ago. She'd come to L.A. for a conference and had some free time so asked her old friend to show her the sights.

Matt had his sailboat ready and waiting at the harbor. They'd pack up a lunch and have early dinner in Avalon before heading back. C.J. had begged off having a ton of paperwork sent to her by Murray to review and revise before faxing it back to him later that day.

"I'm fine Houston. I think after I get done, I'll spend some time in my garden."

"You sure about that?"

She nodded.

"You have a great time…"

Of course that's when the elevator doors opened and in walked a young man desperately needing their help to find his missing sister.

Matt realized after listening to Emmett Alison that he wouldn't be out sailing today. Roy had already left for the harbor to meet up with Dixie so Matt left him a message on his cell to go on without him.

"I haven't seen Peg in weeks and I'm starting to get really worried about her," he said, "She's got a couple of medical conditions that she's been taking pills for and if she's not taking them…"

"Wait a minute…why wouldn't she be taking her medication?"

Emmett sighed.

"This reverend that she's been hanging out with… his name is Jesse Mercer, he's got a lot of influence over her. She think she's the second coming…and she left home and her family…everything just to follow him."

"What do you know about this reverend?"

"Just that he came to L.A. about a year ago. Picked up a lot of followers, young people many of them from prominent families."

"Families with money I'm guessing."

Emmett nodded.

Matt knew the drill. Some con artists creates a new religion, ordains himself the priest of it and then recruits converts, usually by preying on some vulnerabilities in susceptible people. Usually it was about brainwashing them, even coercing them into turning over their bank accounts, material possessions even inheritances.

"Is Peg coming into any money?"

"Yes…she's got $3 million in a trust fund that's due to mature in the next few weeks."

Matt digested that. He knew that he'd have to hit Baby and do more research on this Jesse Mercer. He stood up and Emmett followed him to the elevator.

"Tell you what, I'll do some background on this preacher and get back to you when I find something okay?"

Emmett looked troubled.

"One thing you should know is that three of his followers died mysteriously in the past six months. Oh, the cops will say they were either accidental or suicides but that's not true. I think Mercer killed them."

Matt rubbed the back of his neck. That wouldn't surprise him. After all, hundreds of followers of Jim Jones had killed themselves in Guyana but he knew it hadn't been that easy.

Emmett left and Matt got down to work. He wished C.J. was there to help him but he knew she had some errands to run not to mention a training session with Too-Mean. She'd gone back to fine tuning her fighting skills after Robert's death.

Actually she'd seemed more determined to do a lot of things after that episode. He knew the realization that she'd been close to committing seriously to a sociopathic career climber had hit her hard. Police had interviewed them both after the discovery of Robert's body at the county jail…but not seriously as it hadn't taken them long to simply close that case.

Life had gotten back to normal, he tried to tell himself but something didn't seem quite right.

* * *

C.J. dropped Too Mean on the mat again in four moves. He'd been tougher on her since she returned to their sessions wanting him to up the ante. She didn't know why it felt important all of a sudden to hone her physical skills. It's not like she was handling many investigations out in the field with Matt since the arrival of his uncle.

It seemed natural for Matt to want to reconnect with his only living family member. She certainly didn't want to begrudge him that.

She helped the former football player turned bodyguard to the stars on his feet.

"I'm getting too old for this…I should have left tackling behind on the field."

She grabbed her water bottle and sipped it as they both went to sit on the sidelines of the gymnasium where boxers sparred with each other or practiced with bags.

"What about you? Don't you ever get tired?"

She shook her head and wiped her face with a towel.

"Just getting started," she said, "Can't let my skills get rusty since these days I'm mostly behind a desk."

Too Mean didn't look too sure. He'd known the woman in front of him for over a year now and lately, she'd looked even more intense, taken on an edge that he didn't see before in her. But when he brought it up, she laughed it off.

"I'm the same woman I've always been Too Mean. I just can't let anyone get the jump on me again, not ever."

He knew she was thinking about what had happened with Robert. He hadn't known the guy, just watched him on the news. The news reporter had come off as smooth and slick, but he figured that was a byproduct of the profession, after all he'd never met one he trusted.

"Did they ever figure out what killed him?"

She shrugged, taking another sip from her water bottle.

"No…coroner's report was inconclusive. They think it's natural causes."

Too Mean frowned.

"He's too young for that. No someone got to him in the jail yard when someone wasn't watching."

She sighed.

"So someone did. I imagine maybe someone wanted to kill him because his case was all over the news…maybe someone who wanted to make a name for himself in the jail."

"Maybe…"

C.J.'s phone vibrated from where it rested on the table. She picked it up.

"Got to take this. It's Houston. It looks like his sailing holiday's been tabled again."

* * *

The attack had come so suddenly, neither had time to react, let alone protect themselves.

They were walking out to where they parked the chopper carrying a blood sample from Peg to test for drugs or anything that would explain why she'd ran off and suddenly found religion.

The woman had just stood there while C.J. injected the needle and released the plunger, hoping that it would shed some answers. They were going to meet with Emmett later that day to give him an update on the case involving his sister.

Interviewing her under the watchful eye of other converts that she and Matt knew would rat her out to Mercer hadn't told them much. Peg seemed perfectly happy living in the convent, working hard during the day and attending marathon prayer and revival sessions at night. She insisted that she was there of her own free will, but something about it. Maybe the blank look on her face, her vacant eyes…that's why they decided to run toxicology tests.

C.J. had just been happy enough to be out in the field with Matt again working on investigations rather than sitting shuffling paperwork in the office. The adrenalin from her sparring session with Too Mean had yet to wear off so they both flew to the compound, on the muscle meaning ready for anything.

But they hadn't been ready for when a cadre of Mercer's men had opened fire on them with shotguns. They should have learned from Jonestown where a fact finding team had been ambushed by Jonestown members on the tarmac of a nearby airport.

The last thing she remembered was something slamming hard into her side, something burning her flesh sending shockwaves of the most intense pain through her before her legs buckled and she fell on the grass near the helicopter.

Darkness descended on her then closing everything else out around her.

Matt yelled at the men after they had stopped firing their weapons. When the shots crackled the air, he'd instinctively ran to shield C.J. from them. But she'd been too far away from him, it'd been too late. He saw her fall and hoped she was reacting quickly enough to avoid getting hit.

"You hold still or I'll finish off the lady lawyer."

That's when he knew that at least one bullet had found her. That and the fact that she lay totally still on the grass. He didn't listen but headed towards her, kneeling by her side. She didn't respond to his nearness and he saw the blood pooling beneath her staining the grass.

Damn it. He needed to get her out of here and to a hospital fast. But then the men with guns swarmed around him pulling him away.

"You just going to let her lay there and bleed to death?"

He broke away to return to her unable to stop himself. That's when he felt the blow to the back of his head which sent him tumbling to the ground next to her.

* * *

_The man without a face stood in front of her. _

_"They are trying to help you, you know," he said._

_She shook her head._

_"They don't understand."_

_"That's because you won't tell them," he pointed out._

_"It's in the past," she said, "That's where it needs to stay."_

_He remained silent for a while and that left her alone with her thoughts. She had missed a life with him she felt that so keenly and didn't understand why he stood with her now as if he had never left her._

_"The past always comes back," he said, "And it can bite you like a rattler underfoot."_

_She frowned._

_"Was that what happened to you?"_

_He looked away but she thought she saw him nodding._

_"It will do the same to you if you aren't careful…"_

_She grew frustrated._

_"I don't know what you're talking about."_

_He turned his head to look at her._

_"Yes you do…"_

She woke up and when her senses returned to her in a rush, she wished she'd stayed dead. Pain like a poker burning deep in her flesh. She writhed to get away from it but there was no escape. Someone held her hand…someone strong and warm and incredibly brave.

"C.J. it's okay. You got to lie still so Carl can take a look at you."

She nodded, feeling the sweat beading on her forehead. She couldn't see anything in front of her but she focused on the familiar voice.

"I'm trying…"

The grip on her hand increased.

"I know…."

Another voice she didn't know responded.

"I can't trace the track of the bullet and she's fading fast."

Frustration laced with anguish in the voice of the man who held her hand.

"She lost a lot of blood before they even dragged us in here."

A man sighed.

"All I can do is slow it down," he said, "but she needs to be treated by a surgeon not a medical school dropout."

"Just do the best you can. Don't let her die…"

Then everything faded around her again, mercifully the pain went along with it.

* * *

Roy sailed back that night with Dixie and after dropping her off at her hotel room he drove to the penthouse suite to finish some paperwork.

He'd checked his phone messages but nothing from Matt. He thought that strange because his nephew often checked in with him to update him on the caseload. Still he didn't worry too much, knowing that Matt had met with a young man named Emmett Allison who'd been worried about a sister who'd gone missing. No doubt he and most likely C.J. had been busy all day working the angles of that case.

After locking up the suite, he poured himself a nightcap. It'd been a great day spent out on the ocean and catching up with Dixie who'd lost her husband two years earlier and had relocated to Chicago working for a startup company. They'd talked and laughed, hiked Catalina's trails and ate some fried fish at a popular restaurant before heading on back to the mainland.

He'd heard an update on the Robert Tyler case. The man had died of "natural causes" at the age of 30 inside a jail rec yard and people acted like that made any sense. But he knew better.

No one could ever know the truth about how Robert Tyler had died and who'd been responsible. Then again, who'd believe the truth? He sighed, sipping his glass while entering some of the closed cases in the ledgers. One of them leaped out at him…it had to do with stolen jewelry that had been fenced downtown tying into the Triad operating out of Chinatown.

Now Roy knew that the old head of the criminal gang Soo Chin had been shot and killed after leaving a minute with some of his lieutenants but it hadn't taken long for that vacancy to be filled by a rising lieutenant. Rumor had it, the same one who'd taken him out though the evidence against him wasn't strong enough for an indictment especially since any witnesses weren't talking to police.

Quite a few deaths connected with the Triad. Carter the crooked DEA agent died three months later of a suspected overdose inside his prison cell in the solitary wing reserved for child molesters, rapists and law enforcement officers. Maybe the gang that he partnered with covering its tracks, wouldn't be the first time that happened.

He walked to the couch to check out some information on Baby but saw some information on the screen already.

A link to an interview taken by the disgraced and now deceased Robert as it turned out. He stood there holding a microphone in front of what looked like a stately mansion.

"_Here we stand in front of the mansion where inside the family of Nichole Samuels lives in seclusion holing up there after her mysterious death two weeks earlier. Samuels was at a prayer meeting at an apartment building where she accidently fell five stories to her death off of a balcony. Police investigated the incident but ruled it accidental blaming it on a loose railing on the balcony…" _

Sounded like it might have been wrapped up too quickly by police, he thought. He continued watching the broadcast.

_"Samuels had been a member of the religious movement that's burst onto the L.A. scene in recent months led by the very charismatic preacher, Rev. Jesse Mercer who has attracted over 200 followers to his flock. However, the former auto salesman who said God came to him in a vision has his critics._"

An old photo of Mercer flashed up on the screen and Roy's eyes widened. Talk about a blast from the past. His body tensed, his eyes remained fixed on the screen and then he reached for his cell phone to call Hoyt.

* * *

Morning came after a sleepless night for Matt spent at C.J.'s side where she still lay motionless on the bed. Carl had tended her through the night until he'd taken a nap a couple hours before dawn. Matt looked at his best friend laying there, her dress stained with her blood and her face so pale, beaded with perspiration.

Her hand felt limp in his own but still warm…which meant there was still hope. But Carl said the bullet was lodged so deep he couldn't remove it…not without killing her. Yet every minute it remained in her body, her life ebbed away. Damned if he did, damned if he didn't, his least favorite phrase in the world. He'd always been a man of action when faced with a challenge or a crisis and now, all he could do was sit and watch her die.

What a mess. This case had seen so cut and dry on paper. Just go out to the compound and talk to Peg to make sure she wasn't there against her will and then most likely since she was legally an adult head back to the office by noon. Of course the best laid plans…it hadn't turned out that way at all. They'd been set up by Mercer to believe that everything was on the up and up and that Peg was perfectly happy there. Then ambushed them as they were leaving, once a cult member had probably gone to him spilling news about the pending blood test.

Now she lay dying and nothing he could do about it. How much time had they been missing? Would anyone notice? He knew his uncle would have come back from Catalina and might have noticed that Matt hadn't called him but most likely wouldn't read too much into that.

But maybe this morning when he didn't show up at the office and didn't answer his phone…one could only hope he'd get suspicious and call the police for a welfare check at the beach house. Still, all that would show is that he hadn't been home. Not that anything bad had happened to him or C.J.

He looked back at her, lying so damn still there. Carl told him last night that she might fall in and out of consciousness but her periods out would get longer and longer until…she went into a final coma and as her body began to shut down.

No, he couldn't let that happen but as he looked at the bars on the windows, what would he be able to do about it?

* * *

_"I really did love him," she said, sensing her mother's presence in the garden even if she couldn't see her. She felt her mother's loving caresses in the breezes which danced around her as she stood among the endless rows of flowers all around her._

_"Loved who," a familiar voice said._

_She turned around and saw Matt and wondered how he had found her here._

_"I was looking for you," was all he told her._

_"I was with my parents…"_

_"I know," Matt said, "I used to come here to visit my mother. I always thought I was dreaming but maybe there really is a place where we can see those who love us."_

_She smiled at that thought._

_"I really miss my parents," she said, "I thought if I didn't think about them, I would forget what they looked like."_

_But she realized that hadn't been true at all. Love, after all, didn't need a visual memory, or that of sound or smell. It had instinctually drawn her to the right corner of the vast garden that spread out in front of them as far as the eye could see. She knew she didn't explain that to Matt because after all, he had found her._

_He reached for her hand and grasped it, the warmth of his body flowing through her fingertips which wrapped around his own. She felt her own heart beat a little bit faster._

_"You need to come back with me," he said._

_She felt conflicted when he asked that and bit her lip, considering it._

_"It's so beautiful here," she said, "I don't think I want to leave or that I can…"_

* * *

Roy followed Hoyt once they left the car and walked up to the now abandoned compound. It looked like no one had been there in a while, which meant what? Had Mercer taken his flock on some religious retreat or had he suddenly decided he needed to relocate his operation?

The gates were unlocked, the security station unmanned. Funny it'd be needed in a settlement were people joined of their own free will.

"Did they put guards there to keep people out or people in?"

Roy didn't know how to answer Hoyt's question but he knew that converts didn't tend to last very long once joining Mercer's cult. Particularly those with very large bank accounts or trust funds. He'd reel them in with promises of an eternal life of bliss and the brainwashing would begin. After they signed over their estates to them, they soon died mysteriously. Maybe the first two could be written off as accidental death or suicide but Roy had tracked down a dozen deaths connected with Mercer's cult.

Had Matt and C.J. known that when they'd gone looking for Peg? He found Emmett's number at the office and called him up. Peg's brother filled him in and told him that he last heard from Matt the previous day before he and C.J. took the chopper to fly out to check on Peg.

A chill hit Roy and he thought of Jonestown and what had happened when a team of people led by a congressman had gone fact finding there.

Hoyt hadn't been too concerned at first.

"They might be out busy on the case," he said, "I'm sure you'll hear from them soon."

But as several hours passed, even Hoyt knew something was up. So he got in his car and picked up Roy to head out to the address on Baby's screen where Jesse housed his flock just outside L.A.

Still it looked eerie in its quietness. Roy figured that something went down when Matt and C.J. had been there and old Mercer (not his real name) had packed up his flock and jetted out of there.

They stepped onto a grassy meadow where his eyes widened when he spotted a familiar sight.

Matt's chopper sitting there empty, seemingly abandoned. Whatever happened, it had to have been before the two of them were able to leave.

Hoyt gestured him over and pointed to the ground.

"Shell casings…lots of them," he said, whipping out his cell phone, "I'm going to have to call this in and get some officers out here. Don't touch anything."

Roy had bent over seeing something on the ground and called the lieutenant over.

"What is it?"

Roy looked up at him gravely.

"Blood…I think it's tied in with the shell casings and why Mercer and his followers are not hanging around here right now holding revival sessions."

Hoyt told the police officer on the other end to send over a crisis response team over on the double. Some awful had just taken place here and they still had no idea what.

Hoyt sighed.

"We're going to need to case each building, each room, every inch and corner of this compound to see if they left anything behind."

Roy nodded, knowing he meant bodies.


	32. Chapter 32

Matt caressed the face of the woman whose head rested in his lap. They were in the back of a van driven by one of Mercer's men with him sitting shotgun. After waking up that morning Matt saw a bustle of activity which told him that Mercer decided it was time to relocate.

So they'd been piled in the back of the van on the hard metal floor. C.J. had been jostled away to a new round of pain which hit her in waves, each one worse than the last. Carl had gotten himself on some vials of morphine and had been injecting her with it.

But he was down to the last one.

"Pain will only get worse…"

Matt had vented his frustration at Mercer that he couldn't at least drop her off at a hospital before taking off.

"I'll stay with her if you just let her go," he said, "She needs a doctor or she's going to die."

Mercer snickered.

"You should have thought of that before the two of you trespassed on my compound and tried to turn one of my disciples against me. She dies, it's your fault not mine and it'll be the will of God."

Matt wanted to throttle the man but he knew better. The only way his friend would survive is if they escaped and he knew he'd have to bide his time. In the meantime, Carl would use his rudimentary skills the best he could to keep her alive.

"You're going to make it C.J. just hold on…"

He heard a faint whisper.

"I'm…trying…"

He stroked her face trying to will his own strength into her. Nothing could happen to her, he wouldn't let it. They'd been through too damn much together.

"I know…but I need you to stay alive. There's too much left to do…"

And to say, though he kept that silent. He'd been doing so much thinking during the night while she lay unconscious and unaware of it. His mind had gone places, ventured into recesses in his head, tapped into memories he'd locked away so tightly. But they'd slipped out, images of her lying in his arms, while he kissed her.

He'd shown a side of himself he rarely ever showed anyone and he knew it'd been the same for her. When they'd lain so intimately together not knowing where one of them ended and the other begun, he'd felt like he'd come home. It'd scared him spitless though he hadn't realized that until the euphoria of the experience had worn off.

"I need to tell you something…"

He looked down at her but her eyes remained closed, her breath uneven.

"I'm right here C.J., tell me what?"

Her forehead wrinkled.

"It's so dark…but there's something…I need to tell you…"

"C.J. you need to rest. It's going to be okay…we're going to get you out of here."

She shook her head slightly.

"I wanted to find him…I needed to find him."

Confusion hit him.

"Find who C.J.?"

"He said…People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for…"

"Who?"

She wasn't making any sense and soon she fell silent again. The van kept bumping over the road so Matt knew they weren't on the highway anymore. The window was cracked open and a breeze wafted in when the van stopped to make a turn, carrying a hint of the ocean.

* * *

Roy waited on the phone until the man returned. The background crackled and he wondered where he was now. Somewhere far away, he knew that, clear on the other side of the road.

"I'm back…it was just the mailman. Can't be too careful."

"Agreed. I know this is risky but I need more information on a Jesse Mercer."

"Jesse who?"

"I mean Randal Jerome."

The other man sighed.

"He's said to be dead but rumor is, there's no body in his grave."

"Ah…any chance he might be using his skills and training to run a religious scam?"

A pause.

"If so he's fallen on hard times. Besides Masters, he was the best. His most promising protégée."

"That's what I figured. I just wanted to be sure."

"You are now…what the hell is he up to anyway? Why you asking about a man who for all purposes is dead and buried?"

Roy knew he could never tell him. The body count was high enough and one more body might be enough to expose him. He might be in hiding but he still had powerful connections.

"Nobody special. I just ran into his name on a background check."

"Bullshit. You never were a good liar. A weakness as an operative that nearly got you killed more than once."

_Oh he was much better at that than his caller believed_, Roy thought.

"He's set up a religious cult here and his wealthier converts have a way of turning up dead."

"I see. You're going to have your hands full with him," the man said, "He's a snake, always wanted to use his gifts to make himself a fortune on the side and he's charismatic enough to pull it off especially if his targets are young."

"You think he'd commit murder?"

"No doubt about that but more likely he'd have people lined up to pull the trigger. Like I said he's charismatic."

Roy sighed.

"Thanks…I owe you one."

"Nah…you've done enough. Tell me straight Roy, is this someone I need to be worried about?"

Roy paused, hearing that tone in his voice.

"No…no not at all…"

He clicked off the phone feeling like he'd dodged a bullet.

They wound up at a lighthouse and Matt gently picked up C.J. who felt limp in his arms and took her inside where he settled her on a makeshift bed. She hadn't stirred in the past hour or so and Carl checked her vitals.

"Pulse is weak…respiration. She doesn't have much time left. She's got to get to a hospital."

* * *

Matt ran a hand through his hair having not figured out how to pull off the great escape yet and time was running out.

"I'm still working on how to do that."

Nothing came to mind. He knew they were in a lighthouse, in the middle of nowhere, somewhere near the coastline because he smelled the salt in the breeze much more keenly when they left the van. But as more hours passed, he'd paced across the room many times, still no action plan. Mercer had placed armed guards there.

But it had fallen silent. About an hour ago he'd heard the sound of people talking, doors closing and engines revving. Tires squealing against gravel until they faded in the distance.

Most likely Mercer had left taking his flock with him to a new headquarters leaving them there. That meant the armed guards likely were gone.

The door hadn't budged when he tried it and the windows had been barred too. Maybe the door had been barricaded in some way from the outside.

He'd have to find another way out of the lighthouse and then deal with that.

"I think they're gone," Carl said, "I haven't heard any sounds in over an hour."

Matt nodded, sitting by C.J. again reaching for her hand.

"Isn't there anything you can do, anything you can find to help her?"

Carl sighed.

"Like I said, she needs a trained surgeon not a second year medical student."

Matt concentrated on C.J.'s face unlined since she'd gone into what Carl called a coma. Completely unresponsive to any stimuli…but he read somewhere that often the patient's hearing still worked. Might as well talk to her…couldn't think of anything else to do.

"C.J. you just got to hold on, think you can do that? I can't lose you…you're too damned special, know that?"

She didn't respond. He hoped that she heard him from somewhere deep in her coma.

"I'm going to find a way to get us out of here," he said, "I'm…"

That's when he noticed something terribly wrong. He turned to Carl in total panic.

"I can't feel her pulse," he said, "C.J. don't you dare. Don't even think of dying on me. You understand…stay here with me…."

* * *

_"You can't stay here," Matt told her._

_She seemed taken aback at his words and the tone that carried them._

_"What do you mean," she said, "I've just gotten to know my parents again. I can't leave them now."_

_He looked around at the beauty that surrounded the two of them._

_"This is a beautiful place," he said, "but it's not your world."_

_She frowned at that, remembering what her mother had told her._

_"You've got to come back with me."_

_She folded her arms and shook her head._

_"I'm not ready to go back," she insisted, "and you can't force me."_

_Matt looked at her, detecting that stubbornness of hers in her voice._

_"I don't have a choice," he said, "I can't lose you."_

_She looked at him, puzzled._

_"How could you ever lose me," she said, "I've always been there."_

_He knew that but this was different. This place where they stood wasn't where either of them belonged, he didn't know why that was true but he believed it more than almost anything at that point._

_"This isn't where we're supposed to be C.J.," he said, forcing patience into his voice, "Our place is elsewhere. We've got our whole lives ahead of us…tons of cases to solve, people to help."_

_She furrowed her brow._

_"I thought all that was important, I did," she said, "but none of it matters if you don't have any family to share it with and my family's here."_

_He detected the sadness in her voice and wanted to reach out and brush it away but realized it wasn't that easy. It had taken a lifetime to build, when he hadn't been paying attention to it._

_"You've got me," he started, "You've got Daddy and his family…"_

_She looked away._

_"But I've got my parents here," she said, "If I go back…"_

_"They're not going to be there," he finished, "but that's not true, they'll be right where they've always been…in your heart every step of the way."_

* * *

Carl felt for the carotid pulse in C.J.'s neck and looked up at Matt.

"I found a pulse…very weak though. We have to get her to a hospital right now or we'll lose her."

Matt sunk in the chair in relief that she still remained with them. But he heard the urgency in the man's voice and he knew he had to act now.

Find a way to get them all out of her or she'd die. No choice really, as his eyes scanned every corner and every inch of their prison. Just in case he'd missed anything_. Come on Matlock_, he heard his father chiding him inside his head, _you've got an eye for detail you'd never miss a tick on a hound_.

Then he saw it, what looked like a discolored piece of wood, shaped like a square that looked like it might hide a hidden door. He eyed the furniture in the room thinking of a way to stack it so he could reach it.

"You keep her alive and I'll find a way to get us out of here. Deal?"

Carl nodded and Matt got to work.

* * *

Matt didn't notice Roy coming into the hospital room in the ICU until he stood by his side. C.J. had woken up briefly just enough for him to welcome her back. A doctor and a couple nurses had answered the call button and rushed in there to examine her. They'd checked her vitals and looked at her chart.

The doctor glanced over at the two men.

"Her vitals have stabilized but we're going to keep giving her IV antibiotics to ward off infection," he said, "It took too long to get her here."

Matt sighed. He knew that but there were extenuating circumstances and Hoyt was handling those while he was with C.J.

"Is she going to be okay?"

The doctor looked at him.

"Eventually…but she suffered a serious gunshot wound…another few minutes and we wouldn't have been able to save her. She's going to need a lot of rest…at least two weeks here and more when she gets home."

Matt nodded.

"I understand. I'll make sure she gets it."

He knew it wouldn't be easy because she had a lot in common with him including an aversion to recuperating from gunshot wounds.

The doctor paused.

"I notice she had a couple other…scars. I recognize the work as being a surgeon from this hospital. Whatever the two of you do for a living…just as well to have a good medical plan."

"Thanks doctor."

The man shook his head at the both of them before heading on out with the nurses and Matt returned to C.J.'s side. She opened her eyes and smiled at him.

"Houston…"

"What?"

"You're here…"

She reached up weakly to touch his face.

"I'm just making sure you're all right."

"Fine…thanks to you…but you need to go catch him…before he gets away."

Matt glanced up at Roy.

"You mean Mercer? He can wait…we found his new headquarters. Hoyt's getting a team ready."

"Good…you got to get Peg…before he kills her."

Matt nodded.

"We will…don't you worry about a thing?"

* * *

Matt sat on C.J.'s bed next to her where they both watched the news flash on the TV screen. It showed images of a handcuffed and very subdued Jesse Mercer being taken by police into the station to be booked and processed.

C.J. frowned.

"His face…and he's limping."

She turned and looked at Matt arching a brow.

"Houston? You didn't have anything to do with that..."

He sighed.

"He got what was coming C.J. and he's going to be spending the rest of his sorry life in a prison cell."

She didn't push the issue further. Just sorting through the images that flashed in her head as she tried to remember what had happened the past several days had been difficult enough.

Leaving her exhausted. There'd been the strangest memories as if she hadn't been held captive by Mercer at all…but someplace else.

None of it made any sense at all.

"I was out of it for a while wasn't I?"

He looked at her and suddenly she saw in his face, all the emotions that must have been etched on it the past several days.

"You're were unconscious most of the time but you're fine now."

"I know but parts of it…it was really strange Houston…though it seems to be fading now."

Those final images that had flashed in her mind just before she'd woken up in the hospital bed still remained.

_"I can't find my way…" she said, her eyes still closed._

_And she couldn't through the smoke of the building which left her nose and lungs feeling like they had been rubbed raw with broken shards of glass. She coughed but the pain still permeated through her and her eyes stung, feeling raw._

_"Where am I," she said, not being able to feel more than a few feet in front of her, "Houston?"_

_"I'm right here," he said, "just in front of here but we've got to get out of here before it's too late."_

_The fire licked the sides of the walls in the hallway and the wallpaper released trails of smoke before igniting. The voices of the men had receded and no longer followed her down the endless hallway. She saw the open doorway ahead out into what looked like intense sunlight. She saw the outline of a figure and thought she knew its name._

_The man who'd been inside the car before…_

_"Daddy," she said, "I can't find my way out of here. Can you help me?"_

_He shook his head._

_"You can't come this way," he said, "You've got to trust him."_

_Her brows furrowed as sooty ash began to drizzle down like dirty rain. She shook her head._

_"No Daddy," she said, "I'm afraid to go that way. What if it leads me back to where I started…without you?"_

_He still shook his head._

_"I love you daughter," he said, "and that means saying goodbye."_

_She felt herself being pulled in his direction like a current had caught her up in its flow, but she felt someone pulling on her arm._

_"C.J. you have to come with me," he said, "The way out is over here…"_

She blinked her eyes and heard Matt talking to her.

"You're going to get better C.J. and then you're going to go home and you're going to rest for at least a month. Doctor's orders."

She just sighed clearly not liking that.

"Houston…I'm fine. It's not like I've never been shot before. I always bounce back."

He smoothed her hair back.

"This time…it's different. I really felt like I was going to lose you."

This time she touched his face.

"That's not going to happen," she said, "Okay I'll take a mini vacation…that's what I'm calling it and then I'll be back."

He nodded, knowing better than trying to talk her out of anything.

"You can stay at the condo on Kauai if you'd like."

She warmed to that. She'd not vacationed in Hawaii in ages. It'd be fun and then she could let her hair down a little and have some fun. Maybe do some thinking before she set out a course of action in her search…the one she hadn't told Matt about not yet.

* * *

Chris and C.J. studying brochures about Hawaii including one on paragliding.

"I want to try that…Randy says it's awesome…like flying."

Matt cleared his throat.

"C.J. are you sure…?"

She shot him a look.

"Houston it's my vacation butt out. I promised to follow the doctor's instructions which were mainly to take it easy and relax a while."

Matt sighed, glancing over at Roy. They knew that with C.J. gone the paperwork would stack up heavily.

"We might have some papers for you to sign," he said, "We'll send them by courier jet…in fact they should be waiting for you when you get there."

She narrowed her eyes wanting to clock him. He always tried to mess with her vacations but not this time. She pointed a finger at him.

"Houston you will be so dead if you even try it. Don't you even dare…"

He backed down quickly.

"Look I'm kidding C.J. I want you to take the company jet out there and have yourself a great time."

His voice softened.

"You deserve it."

He left her and Chris still chattering away and walked to the bar to pour himself a Scotch. Roy joined him.

"So they put Mercer under armed guard?"

Roy nodded.

"Hoyt followed my directive. I didn't tell him where it came from."

Matt frowned.

"You didn't even tell me."

"You don't need to know. It doesn't concern you."

Matt paused.

"Mercer is going to live to do prison time isn't he?"

Roy just looked at his own drink.

"I don't know…who can tell about anyone's future?"

Matt sighed.

"He's not going to die suddenly like the others…"

"Others?"

Matt sipped his drink thoughtfully.

"I don't know Uncle Roy. It just seems that some of the bad guys we put away seem to awfully short life spans these days."

"Prison's a rough place Matlock. Anything can happen there."

Matt didn't push the issue knowing he'd hit some kind of roadblock. If his uncle knew something he wasn't talking.

"You going to miss her?"

Matt nodded.

"A whole bunch..."

Roy smiled.

"Why don't you go with her? The both of you been through the ringer and back. Might do you some good."

Matt had been tempted, giving that some thought himself. He'd been thinking a lot of things as a result of this latest escapade. But…

"No…she needs some time away from everything. She's been through so much with this and Robert…me being on the run, getting shot and telling me…"

He didn't finished just sipped his drink again. Roy didn't push him. He just nodded.

"Well, we've got plenty of work coming in the office here," Roy said, "There's a woman who dropped by. She's Cynthia Bradshaw and she wants to hire you to track down an embezzler in her company."

Matt finished his drink.

"She's not going to the cops?"

Roy shook his head.

"She tried that…they wouldn't listen so she's turning to you," he said, "might involve some undercover work for you."

Matt turned away to the bar glancing at C.J. still smiling on the couch talking with Chris.

"I'll take the case. It might be just what I need right now…"

* * *

**Two weeks later…**

Mercer sat in his cell having just paced its cramped boundaries after eating what passed for dinner in here. Gone were the racks of beef, the lobster dinners and the thousand dollar bottles of wine…well his defense attorney said he could always plead insanity.

No, he couldn't do that. But he could rally his disciples, his flock of hundreds around him to help him beat these ridiculous charges.

Oh and one or two of them could go out and quietly eliminate some of the people who might testify against him…including the two working for a private investigative firm that brought him down. Yes, with them out of the way…the case against him would naturally weaken until it crumbled to dust.

The guard slipped him a meal. They'd locked him up in solitary imagine that? They were just doing it out of knowing he'd be increasing his flock of followers in lockup.

He walked over to it and saw that it was just a bologna sandwich and a fruit salad and some warm milk. After picking up the sandwich he sniffed it and put it down in distaste.

Then he saw something underneath the plate partially hidden. He pulled out what appeared to be a card with a bird on it.

A small brown bird perched on a branch, a cream colored breast and piercing eyes staring straight at him. He dropped it quickly, the message it sent to him abundantly clear.

For the first time in his life, he felt really afraid.


	33. Chapter 33

**Hi, lots of chapters I know but some are so long due to the muse going off on tangents that I just decided to split them up. Thanks for reading! **

**L.A.**

Matt looked across the table at the blonde woman sitting in from him. They were eating out at California Pizza Kitchen in celebration of solving the mystery of who had been embezzling money from her company.

It turned out that Cynthia Bradshaw's ex-boyfriend had been nursing a grudge since their breakup two years earlier. His current girlfriend Saffron Benedict had gotten a job in the finance division under subterfuge and had used her considerable IT training to help herself and her boyfriend to the till. They'd moved nearly $350,000 in cash to a bank account on the Cayman Islands, the first place any self-investigator would look to find it.

They'd set up a sting with the help of Roy and even Murray getting in the act and the end result had been both Burt Saxon and Saffron wearing matching bracelets to Twin Towers Jail.

She poured themselves both a glass of the house wine and they clinked glasses.

"Oh Matt, I don't know how to thank you enough for breaking the embezzlement wide open," she said, "I never would have suspected Saffron…I mean the glasses and the mousy attire really fooled me."

They had found out that Saffron moonlighted as a pole dancer at a club on the Sunset Strip on the side.

"Glad to be of help to a lovely young lady…"

Oh and they'd been seeing each other now that the case had ended…not long after he dove into a window and saved her from her greedy ex who had been about to feed her to the sharks, literally. It turned out he had a tank of them as a hobby.

After being interrogated by police separately, they met up to eat dinner at a new restaurant in Venice Beach and hit the sheets not long after that. She was attractive, vivacious and he enjoyed spending time with her. The caseload had piled up since C.J. left for Hawaii to recuperate from her latest gunshot injury and it'd kept him and Roy pretty busy.

But he still had time to play.

"When's she coming home?"

"Who?"

"C.J. of course. I've been waiting to meet her since you talk about her so much."

Matt smiled.

"She's due back tomorrow. Last time I talked to her she said she was ready to get back to working…though it sounds like she had a great time."

"What happened to the paperwork you flew out to her?"

Matt sighed.

"I didn't…I knew if I did that she'd just torch it. It's waiting in a box next to her desk back at the office."

Cynthia chuckled.

"I think I'm going to like your friend," she said, "You know it's rare that a man and a woman can be best friends without sex getting in the way of it. But you two seemed to have pulled it off quite nicely."

Matt shrugged.

"It's just always felt natural for us to be friends, best friends…and not something else. Neither of us wanted to ruin a good thing."

Cynthia tilted her face, resting her chin on a hand.

"You two ever been tempted…to challenge the boundaries of your friendship…"

"Do what?"

She snorted.

"You know get it on…get horizontal with each other? I mean…a guy…woman you have to at least think about it."

Matt bristled, remembering that he and C.J. had done just that when they'd been younger. It only happened once…well been one night actually. One long hot summer night…but that was between the two of them and no one else.

"Matt did I make you uncomfortable?"

He shook his head quickly.

"Not at all…was I just thinking with her coming back tomorrow, I'd like to plan a surprise…a barbecue at the beach house. I think she'd enjoy that. They don't do it Texan style in Hawaii."

Cynthia nodded.

"That'd be nice. I can help you set it up," she said, "I used to be a party organizer before I switched fields. I still like to do one occasionally on the side."

He thought that a good idea and so they began planning it.

* * *

C.J. sat on the Lear jet which had left the airstrip on Kauai and had filed a flight plan for LAX. She'd eaten a late breakfast with Derek Landon before finishing her packing and heading to the airport.

But not before they kissed goodbye. They exchanged email addresses and cell numbers but they both knew they wouldn't keep in touch. What they had shared had been an interlude in between their lives on opposite ends of the world

She lived in L.A. He lived in Frankfort where he headed the office of a major importing company. They'd hooked up at a luau of all places and spent most of the last two weeks of her vacation together. Hiking up to the volcanos, scuba diving and yes…parasailing.

Nights were spent dancing at clubs, taking moonlight walks and in each other's beds. He had been exactly what she needed to keep from thinking about Robert whose death had impacted her more than expected.

Not to mention Matt. Ever since she'd admitted in the midst of a hail of gunfire that she loved him, it hadn't quite been the same between the two of them. Nothing she could point to or put her finger on but something had changed.

She had moved on with her life and this time at least the guy she'd slept with hadn't been a narcissist sociopath.

Matt had called her earlier in the day while Derek had been showering and they'd talked for a bit. He'd just solved a major case involving a female client and naturally after saving her life, he went out with her. She tried not to roll her eyes because she really wanted to be happy for him but this pattern of his continued and he seemed ignorant of it. Blissfully so at least.

Still she cared about him fiercely and if Cynthia made him happy, then that was fine with her. She leaned back on the comfortable longue to get some more relaxation time before hitting the tarmac in L.A. The month spent in Hawaii had been just what she needed. She healed up great, her endurance was nearly normal and she felt after a couple sessions with Too Mean she'd be lean and mean again…with just another scar to add to her collection.

She picked up the newspaper and read it. Turning the page, her eyes caught a photo of a subway explosion called the Milan Metro with columns of smoke coming out of the station and people standing around outside.

Ten people had died, many more injured and no terrorist group or organization had claimed responsibility for the bombing. She looked at the photo more closely and saw a tall man standing in the background in a suit.

Something about him…he looked familiar but she didn't know from where. He didn't seem to be looking at anyone else.

She heard a noise behind her and remembered she wasn't traveling alone. The brunette woman, a former model wore a stylish dress while C.J. wore denim shorts and a long sleeved shirt.

It turned out that Matt's ex-girlfriend Christina Berenson-Harris needed a quick lift to L.A. to meet up with her husband who had been elected to his second term in the Senate. Matt had made arrangements with her and she had met C.J. at the airport during a stopover in Honolulu.

They hadn't talked much. Christina had been reading fashion magazines and drinking lots of bottled water with her stir fried veggie plate which she warmed in the galley microwave. C.J. put down the newspaper and lay back on the lounge keen on napping.

"You going to sleep the rest of the way?"

C.J. glanced over at her.

"That's the plan. I know that Houston left me a pile of work at the office to do tomorrow morning so I'm going to make sure I'm all rested up."

"He sounded good on the phone. Course now that I'm married to the most wonderful man in the world I don't think about him much."

C.J. had been hearing a lot about Christina's husband since they boarded the jet.

"That's good Christina because he's been seeing this woman he met on the case he just closed."

The smile faded on the woman's face as she sipped from her water bottle.

"Oh I didn't know that…Well…like I said, my Roger is such a prince charming in real life, I'm so lucky to have found him."

C.J. felt happy enough for her. She'd feel happier if she'd stop talking about it.

"What about you? Are you seeing anyone right now?"

C.J. glanced up at her and pulled the comforter over her body. Christina took the hint and went back to reading her magazines.

* * *

**A month later…**

Matt followed C.J. off of the elevator into the penthouse suite.

"You sure you can handle it because if not I can call Murray to get someone else to take the deposition in Santa Fe."

"Houston I can handle it. Besides didn't you say that the client specifically asked that I do?"

Matt stopped.

"Yeah he did…listen why don't you take the Lear and you can be there in a couple hours. Stay overnight and then fly back after you're done?"

She went to pour herself some juice at the bar.

"I'd rather drive, get away for a little while. A road trip sounds just like what I need right now. I'll just leave in a couple of days and I'll get there in time."

He got himself some Scotch.

"C.J. it's 900 miles of desert…not a hell of a lot of scenery in case you're into cacti and tumbleweeds."

She shrugged.

"I know some highlights to hit on the way," she said, "I've been filling out forms and doing court appearances for the past month nonstop and I could use some time outdoors."

Matt felt a twinge of guilt about that. Roy had been doing most of the legwork out in the field on the cases they'd been handling though C.J. never complained about it.

"Houston I'm not asking for your permission," she said, "Besides I'm meeting someone in Santa Fe anyway so this business trip is perfect."

He sighed.

"All right…but I want you to call me after you check in your hotel for the night."

"Okay I will…you do know I can take care of myself Houston."

"I do…but it'll make me feel better to know that you're safe."

She walked away from him shaking her head. Matt meant well but she was a grown woman who could handle anything life threw at her. After all, she'd just survived being shot for the third time a couple months ago. What could possibly happen on a road trip to New Mexico?

Matt checked his watch. It'd been 12 hours since he'd said goodbye to C.J. before she got into her convertible and took off on her road trip. Too Mean stood next to him and slapped him on the back.

"She's tough Houston. No one will mess with her and she'll have herself a good time. She's been through a lot lately."

Matt sighed.

"I know it. She promised to give me a call when she checked in at her hotel each night. She'll be hitting Las Vegas tonight. Plans to spend a couple days there with friends."

"See I told you she'd have a good time," he said, "Isn't Johnny Foster performing there?"

Matt nodded.

"He's doing a gig there for six months and cut a new album that's due out soon."

"He's come along way from being a serial murder suspect," Too Mean said, "Cut the booze out, cleaned himself up and got back in the business of making music."

Matt knew how much the singer had struggled to get his life back but the close run in with nearly spending his life in prison for murdering showgirls when in reality it'd been a comedian with a mommy complex.

"Yeah my daddy would be so proud of him."

* * *

Matt left Too Mean and headed back to the office to get some work done. Chris handed him a latte as soon as he exited the elevator. He just looked at it.

"What's this?"

"It's a latte Houston," she said, "C.J. and I get our coffee at a spot down the street since the coffee machine broke."

"It broke?"

She rolled her eyes.

"The regular one still works but it's not the 1970s anymore. The world's moved on to designer coffees."

He digested it and sipped it carefully.

"Not bad…I'll be in my office on a conference call."

She handled him some slips of paper.

"Cynthia called you," she said, "She wants to do an early dinner with you before you see the latest James Bond flick."

He nodded and headed to his office.

* * *

**Arizona**

C.J. had left Las Vegas and kissed Johnny goodbye to get an early start before traffic piled up on the highway. She turned on the radio hoping for some classic rock. Instead she got some talk show probably broadcast from an antennae attached to a shack out in the desert, judging by the static.

"_This is Bobby Jones giving you the latest update on the attack by the IRA in Dublin which killed at least 100 churchgoers at a mass. Carnage and burning embers greeted Dubliners as they walked the streets in shock at the recent terrorist act linked to the Sheridan brothers who have ties to a local cell of the terrorist organization…more to come as the information's released out of a shell shocked Irish city…"_

She turned the station until she found one with rock music, oldies from the Seventies…she didn't like any of this new stuff. She'd stopped to catch some breakfast at a road café and a map to help her navigate through Arizona, after promising Matt she'd do that so she wouldn't wind up lost and stranded in the desert suffering from heat stroke and dehydration. She'd roll his eyes at his scenario but she knew he had only been concerned about her welfare just as she'd be concerned about him. It's just that since she got shot by Mercer's men, it'd only intensified. If it got any more intense, she was just going to have to tell him to back off.

Phoenix was her next stop, the last big city before she'd hit Santa Fe. She'd be sure to call Matt after she checked into the hotel there. Then she'd be out dining with some friends, maybe go out to a club and do some dancing. This road trip had been a great idea, the best thing she'd done for herself in a while. She'd needed to leave L.A. to put some distance between her and her life there, gain some perspective on some parts of it.

The investigator said he'd meet with her in Santa Fe with some information. It sounded important, he couldn't discuss it over the phone.

She'd have to just wait a couple more days until she arrived there to hear it in person.

* * *

Cynthia folded her arms. She didn't look all that happy to Matt and he wondered if he was in the dog house again.

"Matt…you just called her this morning," she said, "She's a grown woman who can take care of herself."

He sighed.

"She's traveling on her own through hundreds of miles of remote desert. Of course I'm going to check in on her to make sure she's okay."

Cynthia frowned.

"Okay Matt but this whole thing you and she have going," she said, "I thought you said you were just best friends."

"I thought you said you thought that was a great thing Cynthia…there's nothing going on between her and me but friendship and business."

She tapped her manicured fingers on the surface of the wet bar where he was pouring them both drinks.

"It's just that…I don't know. There's just something there. It's hard not to notice it," she said, "You never slept with her did you?"

He blinked his eyes wondering where that came from. They'd been dating for a month, two weeks exclusively and seemed to be getting along well in all areas. But she did seem a bit insecure when he hung out with his female friends. Just last night after he'd checked in with C.J. they'd gone to Clover's new dance club and she'd not been happy when he and Clover struck up a conversation catching up on everything that'd happened since the dinner party from hell.

"Did you sleep with her Matt," she'd asked afterward as they drove off.

"Cynthia…what she and I shared…it's been over for years."

Beyond that, he didn't kiss and tell. He certainly wouldn't about the night he'd spent with C.J. years ago. He hadn't told anyone about that. Today another woman's name passed her lips as if the previous night's conversation had been unfinished.

"And you and C.J…"

He smiled at her.

"Cynthia you have nothing to worry about darling," he said, "We're just business partners and best friends. It's just that she doesn't have any family left and Uncle Roy and I…we are her family. Can you understand that?"

She hesitated, her eyes a bit wary but finally nodded. She picked up her Scotch and sipped it. Matt drank from his own glass, relieved he'd avoided another landmine.

The same landmine over and over.

* * *

**Washington, D.C.**

Roy clicked some keys on his new computer. He'd buckled and gotten a new lap top and found it quite useful and user friendly. He'd headed out to D.C. on some business as he had to interview a prospective client for the agency. That had gone well and the man would be faxing Chris at the office the particulars on his case in the morning.

Afterward he had time to kill until his flight back home in three days, so he did all the sightseeing just to check out how much the national capitol had changed since he last saw it two years earlier.

He put his laptop back in his bag and headed to the old dive which served the best Greek cuisine where he met with old Art, someone back from the days of espionage and double living.

"Sorry I'm late, did you know they had a Hitchcock festival at the old Metro?"

Roy remembered his old friend and partner had been a movie buff. Right now he shook his head as he ordered a martini.

"That's really something about Dublin. IRA back to its old tricks again."

Roy didn't feel so sure.

"It could be someone trying to pin it on them," he said, "They didn't claim responsibility for it. I think what's been in the press is premature."

"Isn't it always? But that's our job isn't it…to provide false cover stories for our operations."

"Was our job…"

His friend shook his head.

"Once a Company man, always a Company man. The rest of the world might find out about it at our funerals."

Roy couldn't deny that. He'd tried his best to "retire" but it hadn't worked.

"Speaking of funerals, I thought that Charlie was supposed to stay dead…"

Roy hadn't heard or spoken that name in years.

"As far as I know…"

Art pounded his glass on the table.

"Bullshit Roy. You know he's making too much noise the past few months," he said, "He forgot the cardinal rule about leaving his old identity and his life behind."

Roy sighed.

"Easier said than done…he left people behind…family."

"They're much safer if he stays dead. You know that and he's supposed to know that too."

Roy knew that his friend was right but what could he do? The more noise that Charlie made, the more difficult it'd be to contain him. He had too many enemies out there who were still living. After what had happened to his beloved Catherine…

He closed his eyes at the memory.

Art leaned forward.

"You're going to have to talk to him…before someone takes him out."

Roy knew he was right.

From the doorway, a woman watched the two men for a long moment. She almost stepped inside the dining area but then turned around and headed outside again.

* * *

C.J. drove down the road knowing she'd need to pull over to look at the damn map again. You'd think an endless highway going through a barren patch of land that stretched to the horizon it wouldn't be too hard not to get lost. She wasn't worried about it because she had her cell phone, a trunk filled with bottled water, a first aid kit, K-rations and a tent in case she needed it.

But she was running late. She'd overslept due to coming back to the hotel late after having dinner and dancing with a couple of her friends from her days at Harvard. So she pulled out the map in front of her and kept on driving, keeping one eye on the road of course. Not that there had been any other traffic for 50 miles now.

Then her cell phone rang. She picked it up and looked at it.

Matt.

Well he could wait until she checked in the hotel tonight so she put it back down and then picked up the map again.

She didn't see the car heading straight at her until it was too late.

* * *

Matt clicked down his phone realizing she wasn't going to answer it. Cynthia and he'd just returned from a meeting with the new board of her company.

"That was fast."

She walked towards him fidgeting with her sleeves.

"Quick changes are one of my specialties."

"Remind me to time you next time….Why don't we try this new place for lunch down the street?"

She sat on a stool next to him.

"Oh great I'm famished."

But his mind was on the slip of paper in his hand and the telephone on the wet bar. C.J. had given him the phone numbers of everywhere she'd be staying on this road trip of hers. He punched numbers on the phone to call the hotel in Santa Fe where she should be right now. He just wanted to make sure she made it safely, that's all. Then Cynthia and he would head on out to spend the afternoon together.

"I want to make one phone call…"

She put her chin in her hand. Matt thought she'd roll her eyes but she didn't…still she'd seen him reach for the phone enough in the past couple of days. But C.J. was his best friend in the whole world since they grew up as kids in Texas and sometimes he felt he needed to look after her. After all, it hadn't been that long ago she'd been shot on one of their cases and came closer to dying than had ever scared him before…she'd gotten well, headed off to Hawaii for a month and came back fully recovered.

Sometimes his friendship with C.J. proved difficult to explain to the other women in his life. This was one of them. But Cynthia had been a good sport about it…most of the time.

"C.J… Houston she only left for Santa Fe two days ago."

"Well I know that and it's…yeah C.J. Parsons' suite please."

He waited as Cynthia sighed behind him.

"She's a big girl Houston."

"Hadn't checked in…she really should have been there hours ago…well…no…listen I'll call back later thank you."

He put the phone down and went to embrace Cynthia.

"Ah you're right she's a big girl…"

Soon their hands were on each other. He gestured with his head.

"Let's go…"

He held her hand as she led him to the door but not before he grabbed up that slip of paper. He didn't know why he did that. Something…no he knew it was nothing. C.J. was having a great time on her road trip and could have stopped somewhere along the way. When he returned he knew there'd be a message from her on his voice mail.

He had nothing to worry about as they headed to the elevator.


	34. Chapter 34

**Arizona **

C.J. or Bunny as she knew herself sat on the bunk frustrated with a red headed woman named Rhonda who was her cellmate. They'd wound up locked up together after having been arrested together at a bar by two men. Actually man handed by them as her first reaction had been to run away, her second to kick and resist when the bartender grabbed hold of her. Sheriff Butz had taken her from the bartender and both she and Rhonda had been tossed inside a van and brought here.

Butz had been a creep and had tried to get her to trade sex with him for protection from what he called the alley cats of Bannon County Detention Center. When she had nixed that he'd tried to force it from her but in the struggle, she'd slapped him.

That's when she met the man who walked in on her while she'd been digging around in the desk for information, not even knowing why she'd been doing that.

Instinct maybe. The man seemed nicer to her than Butz but she didn't trust him. She didn't trust anyone. Then there'd been the fight outside the showers with the boss inmate named Fran who she'd neutralized in a matter of seconds.

"Where'd you learn moves like that," Rhonda had asked.

She didn't know but something flashed in her head.

"I don't know…maybe Houston…"

So with these flashes of memories popping in her head and wanting to get out of here, she did what Rhonda suggested and tried to remember her past.

There'd been the birthday party where she'd worn the pretty dress that got ice cream spilled on it by a boy.

The memory of herself standing by a graveside on a cold morning. Her father's grave because he had died. The profound rush of loss had hit her as keenly as the chill of the winter day, leaving her shivering from it.

Something more recent, Rhonda advised. That's when she remembered a man. A tall man with broad shoulders, curly brown hair and soft brown eyes sitting by her bedside holding her hand.

"He's my friend, my best friend…"

Something else flashed in her mind inflaming her cheeks. They'd been more than that. The same thing that Butz had tried to force from her, she'd given freely to the man who'd had grabbed hold of her once he'd popped in her head.

"He saved my life…who is he?"

She felt frustration fill her then not knowing if she'd ever remember who she was and the life she'd lived.

* * *

Matt looked at Cynthia or rather the back of her as she'd left him in her wake after walking out on him. They'd just had a fight about C.J. of course after kissing each other on the couch. He'd just wanted to call the hotel again, call C.J. on her cell because she was supposed to check in her hotel hours ago.

It hadn't taken his girlfriend long to get impatient with him again. All he wanted to do was check in with Santa Fe again. He entered the number on the slip of paper again.

"Yes C.J. Parsons checked in yet…She does have a reservation doesn't she…and you haven't heard from her…Yeah minute she comes in have her call me….Matt Houston. She's got my number."

Cynthia had gotten off the couch, her romantic mood completely dissipated.

"I got your number too Houston…ciao."

"Cynthia…wait," he said, "Why don't we start all over again? You're probably right. She did say she had to meet someone there. Maybe that's what she did and lost track of the time."

Not that it sounded that plausible to his own ears. But Cynthia wasn't cutting him any slack.

"This just isn't normal…I mean we can't even spend some private time alone together without you worrying about her when there's nothing wrong. Ever thought that maybe she did something on the spur of the notice without asking your permission?"

He had just looked at her.

"I just want to make sure she's okay."

"She's a big girl Houston…like I said. It's like you have this thing for her and you won't admit it."

"I told you…"

She shook her head.

"I'm on to you Houston…okay Clover, I believe she was a past fling…Serena a petulant spoiled little girl…and that senator's wife who breezed in her calling you Rooster…strange but an old flame…"

He listened as she continued with the list.

"Okay Erin showing up at the restaurant that was bizarre but I saw _Fatal Attraction_ and I get it but I have to draw the line with C.J…"

"There's nothing between us."

She sighed deeply.

"Matt when a man mentions another woman's name when he…we…you get my drift there's something between them and I don't do triangles…not anymore."

That stopped him cold that she brought that up. It'd been a slip on his part, it hadn't meant anything. Nothing at all. But the way she looked at him right now, he knew no explanation would placate her.

"Oh…that…"

Her eyes took on that piercing look.

"Yeah…that. Goodbye Houston…I think you should head on out there to Santa Fe, find her and do us all a favor and declare your feelings for her."

She turned around and she walked on out of there. He sighed and then he picked up the slip of paper and called the hotel again.

* * *

C.J. looked at the man in front of her who called himself Semour Piser. He'd fancied himself a cowboy look but it didn't fit him not like…but soon enough he grabbed his arm and took her over to get her something to drink…to help loosen herself up.

"You look tense…"

It came with having no memory of even her name let alone her life not to mention prancing around in a skimpy bikini in front of a man who viewed it only as wrapping. She knew what he expected of her and she didn't want to give it. But what could she do? She felt damn woozy, barely able to stay on her feet and she couldn't see where Rhonda had gone. The other woman had promised her that when the chance arose, the two of them would just take off. Looking at Piser leering at her as he poured that drink, she hoped it'd be soon.

"You'll like what's waiting inside Bunny but a drink first…to set the mood."

Bile filled her throat. She thought she'd kill him first before he even touched her. They sat down and he put a hand on her thigh.

"Tell me about yourself…"

What's to tell about a life she didn't remember? She just smiled playing dumb while he rhapsodized about his prowess in the sack with women.

"All the women talk about old Piser when it comes to being a great lover."

Who was he kidding? The women talked about Piser all right but well, if she told him what they talked about he'd just get furious and take it out on her. She just smiled brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"I'm sure I'll enjoy it."

Then her eye caught something and she noticed that peculiar looking deputy was creeping up to hide behind a tree. She'd seen him looking at her inside her cell after rapping on the glass to get her attention. Something about him…had drawn her to him but she didn't know why. Why would a deputy do that to her?

The shots ripped through the festive air and everyone turned to look as the mysterious deputy returned fire and shot one of the deputies. C.J. took that as her cue to turn on Piser sending him on the ground. She got up and started running away. A deputy ahead of her tried to shoot the man and without thinking, she pushed him into the pool in one fluid movement. The man ran up to her and started calling her C.J.

She just stared at him.

"Who's running this party?"

That she could answer. She pointed to the burly man fleeing the scene.

"Him…Sheriff Butz…"

Matt took off chasing after the man in a fury and she found herself following him. Not knowing why, just drawn that way towards a man she felt like was becoming clearer to her.

* * *

C.J. barely had her memories return to her before her interrogation began at the makeshift police station set up by the state troopers who'd broken up Piser's party declaring it to be his final one. She'd felt her memory return when Matt lifted her into his arms and held her tightly.

"I know you…"

So she did…he was Houston and she was C.J. After that it was like a dam had broken and so many memories spilled before her, they nearly overwhelmed her. She sat down inside the squad car to go to the motel where they'd set up a location to process all the women who'd been in Butz' jail. Fran met them there and she looked happier than C.J. had ever seen her and friendlier with Matt.

She'd answered every question asked of her, shared every detail of her experience until they released her into the hallway and Matt waited for her with a change of clothes.

"Some lady officer gave them to me," he said, "They should fit."

She went to change and they did, a pair of jeans and a chambray shirt, along with a pair of sneakers. Her hair loosely curled around her shoulders.

"I can book us a hotel room and we can head back tomorrow…"

She shook her head.

"I just want to go home…"

* * *

The party had been Matt's idea but when Cynthia got wind of it, she came over and told him she'd help him to bury the hatchet. They realized that it'd never work between them and they should just go their separate ways.

Many of their friends showed up to eat the food catered from Marcelles and listen to soft jazz music. Roy had flown back in from D.C. to join them and welcome C.J. back home after meeting her and his nephew at LAX.

She'd been quieter, deeper inside of herself. In some ways she reminded Roy of someone else. But once she'd settled back into her life in L.A. and working for the agency, she returned to the woman they all knew and loved.

But she was nowhere to be found tonight even though Matt dressed in his dreaded tux had gone looking. He'd bumped into Cynthia who'd complimented him and headed out to the roof area past the parked helicopter. If she heard him coming, she didn't turn around to face him.

"I came out to see where you've been hiding…I thought you'd be celebrating."

She turned around looking beautiful of course in her white dress. But her eyes didn't hold any gaiety, they looked pensive.

"I'm sorry Houston…I just didn't feel like celebrating much."

"It could have been a whole lot worse."

"I know but you can't go through an experience like that and not feel changed by it."

She'd opened up to him then, and he heard the fear in her voice about what'd happen if she never got her memory back, if he'd never found her, if…she couldn't finish the rest of it.

"I'd never have stopped looking for her."

That relaxed her some because she knew he'd meant it. But she still felt troubled. She hadn't been held captive in that god forsaken jail alone.

"But what about the other women…the ones who don't have anyone…?"

He said something about trying to save the world tomorrow and just to let her friends show how much they appreciated and loved her tonight. So she embraced him, and then he wrapped his arm around her waist and they rejoined the party together. Walking along side of her felt so natural to him…so right in ways he dare not think about too much. He just knew he was so glad to have her back where she belonged.

* * *

She fell asleep on the couch resting against his chest as the quietness of the office surrounded them. They'd stayed to clean up after the partiers had gone home. His uncle had taken off an hour earlier leaving them alone.

He'd poured them both a Scotch and they sat on the couch together talking about nothing really…just a case here and there…some briefs that needed to be filed by the end of the week. Murray's latest quarterly report that needed reviewing.

Suddenly she fell quiet and he knew she was thinking.

"It's great to be back…"

"Great to have you back."

She glanced at him.

"I'm sorry…I know you and Cynthia…"

He sighed.

"It'd never work. She's very nice and a lot of fun but C.J. there's no way I was going to leave you there once I realized you hadn't checked into that hotel. If a woman's going to be my girlfriend, she's not going to make me choose between her and my gut instinct…when it comes to family."

She sipped her drink thoughtfully.

"I suppose we are family," she said, "I know if it hadn't been for Bill and Roy…I might not be the woman I am today."

He smiled, stroking her hair off of her face.

"You were always going to be a woman who went on and did great things C.J. You're sharp, ambitious but you've got the best heart anyone could ever have…best thing that ever happened to me was you becoming my neighbor."

"Best thing for me too…moving next door to your ranch. I'd lost both of my parents…been in foster care and then lived with an uncle who wouldn't even mention my father's name."

She tilted her face.

"I was a bit reckless as I remember…rough around the edges definitely."

"You were strong and you were tough because you had to be. My daddy's ranch hands didn't make it easy for you."

She shook her head.

"No they didn't…especially…"

Matt arched his brows for her to continue but she fell silent again, reaching for her glass.

"I know you miss your daddy Houston," she said, "and you never knew your mama…"

Matt paused then nodded.

"I had a lot of years with him before he passed. I got to say everything I needed to him. He really looked out for me growing up…"

She leaned her head against him and he slipped his arm around her.

"You miss your daddy a lot…"

She nodded.

"One of the first remembered…was the day we buried him. The memories of the years we had together were among my last…"

"Memory's a funny thing C.J. It doesn't work in a way that makes sense."

"I know…part of that might have been not wanting to remember how he died," she said, "It was so sudden so violent. Sometimes I can still see it."

He pulled her closer to him and she let him. She'd been wary of being touched or hugged by any man since her return from Bannon County…but not him.

Her voice softened.

"I remembered us too."

"Us?"

"You know that night we spent together after the poker match. It was…"

"The most incredible night of my life…"

She smiled.

"Mine too. I felt so…well if I appeared to know what I was doing it was all an act."

He furrowed his brow.

"You mean you were….?"

She shook her head.

"Oh no but I wasn't like you Houston. I didn't have a lot of…boyfriends. Only one and he wasn't…he was more for looking out for himself. With you I learned the difference."

He sighed.

"I'm sorry about that but the time we spent…meant more to me than anything. That night I learned the difference too."

Her eyes widened a bit in surprise but then she snuggled against him feeling suddenly tired. He lay down on the lounge still holding onto her. He stroked her face and kissed her on the forehead.

"Good night C.J…"

"Good night Houston…it's so good to be back home…"

* * *

Roy didn't like what he heard on the other end of the line. Art had called him back with some unsettling news.

"I think someone's found him," Art said, "It's only a matter of time until they put two and two together."

Roy sighed.

"Damn…his own fault for not staying below the radar, making himself more vulnerable to his enemies."

"Why now? He'd hidden in plain sight for two decades," Art said, "You think we should contact the others, meet up with them?"

"No…too risky. Some of them are hiding as well. You know that Roman might be in prison but he's still got a lot of power."

"I can't believe Charlie would be so damn reckless…stupid."

Roy heard the frustration in his ex-partner's voice.

"Now he wants to go take out someone else on that list of his," Art said, "and we can't stop him."

"No we can't…we can't even relocate him, give him another name, another life. All we can do is watch."

Art sighed.

"Watch him get exposed to his enemies and be taken out permanently. No funeral this time. No headstone. He doesn't really exist in the real world."

* * *

Piser sat on the bunk of his isolated cell in the wing where they held inmates who were considered too high risk to be in the general population. How dare they treat him this way, he the head of the state parole board was being treated just like one of the lowlifes he oversaw in his position. It was his job to decide their individual fates, should they be released on parole or left to rot for more time in a prison cell? Now, he'd been stripped of his clothes and his dignity and though he was guaranteed three hots and a cot, he'd never felt more indignant and more ill-treated in his life.

His one phone call had gone to a world renowned defense attorney who had yet to return it. He'd have to get in touch with everyone who ever owed him a favor. Problem was all of them were keeping their distance from the whole situation lest their own careers go up in smoke and they wound up wearing orange alongside him.

"Damn that bitch," he said, "Damn her…"

Suddenly he heard footsteps and saw a female guard approach his cell.

"I hope you don't mean me," she said, "or you won't be going to the rec yard today."

He scowled.

"You can't do that. You can't deny me of my civil rights."

The guard leaned forward.

"What about those women that you abused who were locked up on trumped up charges?"

He shrugged.

"They were all lowlife druggies and hookers anyway," he said, "I gave them time out of their cramped cells and a higher class of john."

"Whatever…look it's time for you to get your hour of exercise so let's get a move on."

She opened the cell and another guard joined her. They handcuffed him and walked him down the row of cells to a smaller entry room which led to the caged yard. The other guard left the two of them alone.

The female guard pulled her gun out of her holster and aimed it at him. His eyes widened and he looked at her in shock.

"What the…"

She smiled and took off her hat and sunglasses. His eyes narrowed in recognition.

"It's…you…how?"

"Just call me Lady Blue."

Then she pulled the trigger.


	35. Chapter 35

C.J. drank her margarita at El Coyote with Maureen and Carol her two sorority sisters. All of them were unwinding for the weekend after the usual busy work week.

"I met a new guy at the conference," Maureen said, "His name's Sam, seems nice…and normal. But I don't know. We exchanged cards but I've not had the best track record with guys lately. Dan…Robert…and Lance who's got a wife in Atlanta."

She'd just sent him packing but C.J. winced at her list. After all, she'd though seriously about marrying Robert before betraying him. Maureen had gotten off somewhat easier.

Maureen shook her head.

"Though Robert dying like that in jail…he was too ambitious for his good. All that talent and he threw it all away."

C.J. couldn't argue against that but she didn't feel like talking about him. Damn it'd been an arduous six months for her. Carol looked at her.

"So you still heading out to Arizona…to testify in that case?"

Meaning the so-called Bannon County sex ring scandal…it'd been all over the media for about two weeks before mercifully fading away. Until…

She shook her head.

"Butz took a guilty plea and is doing his 20 years and Piser…well he's dead and buried."

Maureen frowned.

"Did they ever figure out who iced him?"

C.J. shook her head.

"It was one of the prison guards…a woman who wasn't what she appeared to be," she said, "She just showed up that shift. They'd never seen anyone of her description before…not that there was much to go on."

Carol sighed.

"At least someone saved the tax dollars a lot of money."

C.J. agreed but though Piser was scum in her mind, something troubled her about his murder. She'd left a calling card, Lady Rose whatever that meant. One of the other inmates had overheard that being said by a woman before the fatal gunshot.

She'd vanished without a trace as if she'd never existed.

Carol sighed.

"So what's Houston up to? Is he back in the game?"

Meaning was he seeing anyone, C.J. thought, but no, Matt had been working pretty hard lately wrapping up two cases back to back with Roy while she…well spent a lot of time filing court briefs on corporate acquisitions to keep Murray happy. One of his crack attorneys that C.J. had trained herself had gone on extended maternity leave leaving him shorthanded. She'd agreed to help him out…for a couple of months.

"He's been tied up lately…"

Carol's eyes twinkled.

"Not literally I hope. Though he's good with a rope…judging from his rodeo photos."

Maureen rolled her eyes.

"You thinking about trying to hook up with again?"

Carol chuckled, reaching for the margarita pitcher.

"Oh no. Not that he's not real fine in all ways but he's married to his career first, women second which is why he's leaving a trail of broken hearts."

C.J. thought about that.

"Most of his girlfriends aren't serious either," she said, "though there were a couple like Christina…"

Maureen dipped a taquito in her sauce.

"Ah…the one whose husband just got busted in some sex scandal?"

C.J. nodded. Oh, that hadn't been pretty not when she'd shown up on Matt's doorstep for a pity party after separating from her prince charming. He'd been sympathetic and invited her in for a drink and the rest of it she didn't want to know.

Carol narrowed her eyes.

"Wasn't she on Matt's arm at the benefit for the new hospital wing at Wilshire Memorial?"

C.J. shrugged.

"They both donated money to pay for it," she said, "and neither had a date."

She knew that whatever happened between the two of them wouldn't ever get serious. That ship had sailed already and besides, she hated frogs. Though some might think it strange, that'd be a deal breaker for Matt when it came with women to get serious about and a couple relationships had broken up over what some of them called the "frog fetish". What they didn't understand is that Matt just loved critters period and having them around on his ranch. Back when he had one before trading it in for the beach house in Malibu. She got it anyway…his deal with the frogs.

"Hey what you doing here?"

She looked up and smiled as she saw Two Mean there with a beautiful woman.

"Just here with the girlfriends," she said, "You know Carol and Maureen."

He nodded and greeted them and introduced them to Caryn who was a massage therapist he'd been seeing for a while.

"Houston keeping you busy?"

She chuckled.

"Hardly I've been working under Murray for a month. Houston's out with his uncle handling the field work."

He frowned.

"You okay with that?"

She shrugged again.

"I'm the one with the law degree and why not put it to use?"

That's what she told herself a lot but the truth was she felt damn antsy, restless even. Working out with Too Mean kept her body sharply honed but her mind wandered. For one thing she'd remembered along with everything else that she'd gone to Santa Fe to meet with the investigator she'd hired. But when she contacted him to explain why she'd been a no show he hadn't responded back.

Maybe it was just as well. She hadn't gotten far in her search and maybe she should just stop looking for something she'd never find.

* * *

Matt looked over at his uncle. They were sitting in a heap of a car doing surveillance on a boat tied to the moor at the marina. No one had shown up and they were beginning to think that someone had tipped their mark off that he was being watched.

"Want to head back?"

Roy nodded.

"Dixie wants to hit the art show at MOCA tonight," he said, "She's friends with one of the artists."

Matt looked at his watch. He had to fax some signed papers back to Murray in Houston by four. He had plans to head out with Too Mean to a Dodger game. They were playing the Phillies as part of a series.

Suddenly he noticed Roy's body go rigid, his face go ashen.

"You okay Uncle Roy? Anything the matter?"

His uncle's eyes looked incredulous. It was a moment before he could speak.

"What is it?"

Roy sighed.

"I just got a text," he said, "It says he's alive."

Matt knew by the look on his face it had to be something extraordinary. It turned out to be something impossible.

"Will…my son…he's not dead. I'm supposed to meet with a woman who knows what happened to him."

Matt's world just blew apart just as it did when his cousin had been caught in an explosion right in front of him in a combat zone half way around the world. He couldn't believe what his uncle had just said. He couldn't wrap his head around it.

"How can that be? I watched him die right in front of me. He could never have survived that ambush."

Roy looked perplexed, the hope that sprung into his eyes still quite guarded. But whoever sent him the text must have been a highly credible source.

"Who told you?"

Roy sighed.

"I can't tell you but this person…he wouldn't lie to me about my own son."

Matt narrowed his eyes.

"You sure about that?"

Roy nodded.

"Damn sure…we'd better get back to determine how to meet this woman…"

Matt started up the car engine and backed the jalopy out of its parking space.

"Better make sure it's not a setup," he said, "Wouldn't be the first time…"

Roy nodded again and they drove back to the office building.

* * *

C.J. returned to the office from the courthouse after filing another round of briefs in two litigation cases. She'd worked on them most of the night and into the morning. That left her feeling pretty tired but she'd hit the gym in the morning doing weights and some cardio before heading to the courthouse.

She ran into Hoyt there set to testify in a corruption case involving the man that had set up his predecessor Vince.

"So it's finally going to trial after all this time?"

Hoyt nodded.

"Yep. The defendant didn't take the plea and decided to take chances instead. It's in its fourth week and the jury's sleeping already."

"You better say something to wake them up," C.J. said, "They deserve to go down for what they put Vince and his family through last year."

Hoyt agreed.

"So how's Houston doing these days? I haven't seen him around at my crime scenes."

She chuckled.

"He's been busy doing surveillance with Roy. They should be wrapping it up pretty soon."

Hoyt popped another antacid in his mouth.

"Just tell them not to make a mess out in my city okay?"

She nodded with a smile and took off down the hallway to the clerk's office.

* * *

Roy didn't say much until they got to the office and after getting out of the elevator he went and poured himself a drink. Matt joined him waiting for him to break his silence. He knew what this sudden news meant to his uncle…the idea that his only son could still be alive out in the world somewhere.

His uncle looked at his glass.

"You know Flo died in part of a broken heart," he said, "She never got over his death."

Neither had Matt. Oh he'd learned to accept it and live with it but it'd been a difficult journey that showed him that not all landmines were out in the battlefield and there were forces more scarring than shrapnel.

"I just find it hard to believe he might be alive after all this time. How would it have been a secret for so long?"

Roy sighed.

"I don't know. Maybe he's been trapped somewhere or someone's holding him prisoner."

That made some sense to Matt. But still so many questions.

"Why would someone come forward with that information now," he said, "Why after all these years?"

Roy paused before taking a sip of his scotch.

"It was an information exchange," he said, "I told this person information they needed to know and this was their way of paying me back in kind."

Matt's mind tried to really imagine what it would be like if Will had survived that explosion after all. But he didn't press Roy on it. There were certain facets of his life his uncle didn't discuss.

_Once a Company man always a Company man…_

That had been one reason why Matt hadn't fallen in his footsteps even though he'd been recruited by more than one side after his stint in military intelligence.

"So who's this woman?"

Roy sighed.

"Someone who works for the embassy…though I suspect that's mainly a cover for other activities."

Matt sipped his Scotch and then looked up when he heard footsteps. C.J. had walked into the office and saw them both sitting there.

"Hi what's up?"

Matt paused.

"C.J. maybe you'd better sit down. Uncle Roy and I have something to tell you."

* * *

**Earlier…**

_Matt had been back on the ranch for a couple days since his discharge from the veterans hospital in Frankfort and his hop back on the first C14 home. He'd gotten a ride from Ft. Hood back to Houston and got home while his father had been called away on emergency business. Something wrong with an oil platform out in the Gulf. Seriously though what could be such an emergency that it trumped helping Uncle Roy cut through the red tape to get the military funeral benefits authorized for Will. No body to ship home in a flag draped coffin for burial, just a stone marker for an empty grave. _

_The emptiness of the mansion didn't match that inside him right now, and there was only so much liquor in the cabinet to keep him numb. The shrapnel that had sliced into his leg had left him with a limp but with a few days riding out on the ranch, it'd become more limber again. _

_He hit the whisky first because it packed the most punch in the fewest ounces and it burned his throat going down. He took the bottle and went out to the back porch which faced out into the grassy area and one of the corrals where he had worked many a young horse. _

_It didn't take long before he realized he wasn't alone. A young woman with flowing dark hair that curled on its ends was on horseback on a buckskin in the corral, dressed in faded jeans and a worn long sleeved shirt. _

_He watched her put the skittish horse through its paces before it settled down. He had to smile, no one was better with young horse flesh than C.J, she had the gift. Gentle hands whose touch could calm even the antsiest horse not to mention what they did to a man when they ran smoothly over his skin. The hands that held the reins just so right had held the most intimate part of him and just the memory of it, made him suck in his breath. _

_But he put that thought away…and concentrated on his drinking. She spotted him soon enough and after tying the horse loosely in the corral she hopped over it and came on over. He got up and embraced her more tightly than planned but damn he'd missed her. When they separated, he noticed she had tears in her eyes that she wiped away. _

"_I didn't know you were coming back so soon Houston. Your father…"_

_Matt sat down and she took the chair alongside him. _

"_He had that emergency on the oil rig."_

"_Yeah…fire broke out. Two men got hurt. None killed thankfully. He'll be back in the morning."_

_Matt nodded and picked up his bottle pouring himself another glass. Her eyes widened a bit. _

"_You hitting your daddy's whisky pretty hard."_

_He narrowed his eyes. _

"_I'm thirsty…want to make something of it?"_

_The defensiveness in her voice…but she backed down, not wanting a fight with him. _

"_No…I guess you're entitled…your uncle was here earlier."_

"_I meant to call him. I imagine he's still trying to cut through that red tape so he can hold a funeral for his son."_

_She nodded. _

"_He's almost done with it. They picked out Will's plot at the military cemetery. He's making arrangements for the service."_

_Matt looked at his glass. _

"_Sorry there wasn't anything left to bury but you know how it is with people blowing up…"_

_Her eyes widened even more as if she didn't know why he was even going there with her. What had gotten into him? Grief yeah…but it was something much greater than that. His eyes had taken on a hardness…bordering on meanness and she'd never seen that in him. _

"_Yeah I do. I guess we both saw it up real close."_

_The silence between them then…but neither knew how to bridge it. He took his bottle and got up to head back in the house. _

"_Good to see you again…"_

_She stood up too. _

"_Houston…the cook's making your favorites for dinner tonight to welcome you back."_

_He shook his head. _

"_I'm not staying for dinner. I'm going out. Don't wait up for me…"_

_She paused knowing not to push him now. _

"_Christina came by…she's in town on a job and she wanted to see you again."_

_He sighed. _

"_Tell her I'm out. I don't want to see anyone right now."_

_She watched him go back inside the house. The man she'd known most of her life suddenly a stranger to her._

* * *

C.J. sat down but when they told her, she couldn't believe it. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought Will would be alive.

"Are you sure it's legit?"

Matt nodded.

"One of Roy's sources told him. We'll learn more when we talk to this embassy person."

She put her head in her hands still unable to process it. People didn't just come back from the dead after over a decade.

"Where's he been all this time? Will you get answers to that?"

Roy pursed his lips.

"He's been held prisoner by warlord. Don't know which one or much more than that."

"God how awful for him but if he's alive…"

Matt got up and started pacing.

"Then we're going to go find him…and bring him home."

* * *

C.J. watched as Matt and his ragtag team headed for the Lear Jet parked at LAX. The woman from the embassy had given them much more information about where Will was located and who had been holding him all these years.

He'd spent the past couple days quickly drafting a team together, mainly he and Too Mean. His friend told him that he knew a man who might help them at a price.

"Names Andy McKay not the nicest guy but very good at his job. Just what we need to round out our team to get your cousin out"

Matt nodded trusting Too Mean's judgment.

"Well we'd best get out of here because they might try to stop us."

Meaning Uncle Sam which wasn't quite on board with this plan of theirs. Matt had been very careful when filing his flight plan at the airport. If he got slapped with FAA violations, he'd deal with them later. So they all gathered at the airport and C.J. hugged Matt and Too Mean goodbye.

"You both bring Will home but come back yourselves in one piece okay?"

Matt cupped her face in his hand realizing that she meant it and if he didn't…she'd find a way to kick his ass over it.

"I promise…but if I don't come back."

She didn't waver in her voice and in the way she looked at him, memorizing every feature on his face just in case.

"Uncle Roy and I will come for you and I will so kick your sorry ass if you even think about not making it."

His mouth curved into a smile before kissing her softly on the mouth.

"I'll see you later…"

Then they were gone.

* * *

Roy and C.J. headed to the office to do some work to keep them busy while they waited to hear word, any word back from Matt and his motley crew. Roy poured them both some Scotch after they spent an hour closing out case files.

"I hope no news is good news…"

Roy glanced over at her.

"If anything had gone wrong, we'd know by now," he said, "I've got contacts over there who'd alert us."

She processed that sipping her drink.

"I hope he does find him…and brings him back," she said, "Losing Will messed him up for a long time. I think he still blames himself."

Roy sighed.

"I know that…but he did find his way back out of the darkness. He had his friends to help him."

She smiled.

"He didn't make it easy but I can only imagine what it must have been like. I mean I saw my father die in front of me and I did wonder if it would have happened if he hadn't gone to get something for me from the car."

"You didn't know someone had planted a bomb there C.J. He didn't know. Just like Matt didn't know about the attack against them."

"It took him a long time to realize that," she said, "He took it so hard, lashed out. Said and did a lot of things…but I know it wasn't really him. I just hope…here I am and I know this is got to be tough on you too."

Chris interrupted them.

"Roy…there's someone out in the lobby who wants to see you about one of the cases."

He sighed and got up.

"Guess I'd better find out what. If my phone rings…"

"I'll answer it."

He left her alone with her thoughts and the scotch. Damn it'd been a couple days already and she'd kept her nose to the grindstone during the day to get her mind off of Matt and the phone. At night, there were the dreams…which started out nice enough with her and Matt during happier times until the nightmares took over.

Matt had nightmares when he returned and when he finally dragged his ass to a shrink, he'd been diagnosed with PTSD and began the arduous treatment that lasted several years while he picked up his MBA. She'd stayed with him during some of those times, and held them when he'd awakened from some of the nightmares, the sheets soaked with them.

He'd shared his secrets buried deep inside them with her in halting breaths and she'd returned the favor herself. He wasn't the only one who ever had nightmares. There'd been a couple times when their physical closeness had tempted them in other directions but she'd reined her feelings in…that door had closed forever after all.

The phone ringing broke her chain of thought and she looked where Roy had gone and then she picked it up and clicked it on.

"Hello…"

"Who's this? You're not Roy…"

She sighed.

"No I'm not. He's busy at the moment. Who's this?"

A pause.

"It doesn't matter. He's expecting my call."

"I know he…we are waiting to hear back from his nephew. Does it have to do with that?"

"I know about it…he needs to know not to trust them."

"Trust who?"

"The soldiers…the ones who are helping him and the other guys," the man said, "It's the same trap that got his son."

C.J. froze when she heard those words.

"I'll go get him…you can tell him what you told me."

"No…not enough time…you tell him. He'll know how to get word to his nephew before it's too late."

"Okay…and you're…"

"He'll know…"

"Whatever…and thanks…"

"I owe him….What's your name by the way?"

"I'm C.J…I work with him and his nephew Matt Houston."

A long pause followed and she waited for him to respond. It didn't appear as if they were cut off.

"Well…take care and be sure to tell him."

"I will…I don't know you do I?"

"No you don't…goodbye."

The phone clicked off and she looked at it just as Roy returned into the room.


	36. Chapter 36

_Earlier…_

_They'd been making out on his bed and she didn't know how they got there. _

_It'd started innocently enough. They'd been sitting there together after he'd woken up from one of his nightmares involving his cousin not long after the funeral. All she'd meant to do was to hold him tightly until his body stopped trembling, his heart didn't pound against her chest. At first he didn't even know where he was, a part of him was back on the battlefield with bombs going off around him. _

_Then he'd settled down and they'd started talking, still holding onto each other. She didn't remembered who'd kissed who first, it'd just happened during a pause in the conversation. Their lips brushed first perhaps in comfort, and then when they should have parted, they didn't…not until she broke the kiss to collect herself. _

"_I'm sorry…I guess…I…"_

_She couldn't get the words out right. He just reached out to stroke a tendril of hair out of her face gazing at her in a way that made her stop breathing. _

"_Why'd you stop?"_

"_I…."_

_His lips met hers and when C.J. kissed him that second time, she had no idea how hard it would be to stop._

_So she decided she didn't have to so she continued pressing her lips against his mouth, gently taking possession. There was nothing shy about what she gave and what she took from him. If he had expected feathery gentle caresses on his mouth, he was in for a shock._

_This time she slipped her tongue in first, darting its tip in and out of the warmth of his mouth, tasting it and wanting more. He didn't fall behind the pace that she set but met it, wrapping his arms around her as they fell backwards. The bed creaked as he pulled her down on top of him and she fell against his hard body. He cushioned her with his own hands which gripped her as she continued her assault on his mouth._

_She took charge which thrilled her and seem to intoxicate him. He skimmed his hands over her back and cupped her rear. She felt his hardness against her belly, not exactly where she wanted it to be but a good start. Her hair dangled and brushed against his face as she lifted up from her kiss, her eyes dancing over his face, the strong line of his jaw and his forehead, his slightly jagged nose and warm brown eyes._

_Then the mouth that broke out into a sly smile...and her eye brows lifted._

_"What are you thinking," she asked him._

_He remained silent a long moment._

_"You should know that just from being on top."_

_Her own mouth curved into a smile because yeah, she could definitely feel him against her._

_"You feel…good Houston…is that what you want to hear?"_

_He reached up to stroke her face and his fingers though callused felt so gentle on her skin there. She wanted to close her eyes and just enjoy the attention and forget how they got there._

_"No…not exactly…I want to hear that you want me inside of you…"_

_Her mouth fell open and he thought for a moment he had said too much, but then he caught the edge in her eyes._

_And he knew she wanted it too._

_He knew if he stroked her between her thighs that even with the panties, he'd feel just how much._

_"Come on C.J., you know you want it…," he said, "and don't say no or I'll go and touch that one spot that will make a liar out of you."_

_She bit her lip knowing exactly what he was talking about…and she shifted on top of him until she felt him where she wanted him. Now if she could just rub against him a little bit…_

_He cursed softly…and then he reached up to grab her hips and she knew exactly what he wanted…should she show him what she could do?_

_She gyrated her hips and rubbed against him, just barely at first and just being that close to him made her body ache. Her hair caressed his skin as she reached down and kissed him every now and then…never letting him know when it was coming. Just when he thought she had moved on…those lips settled on his mouth again tempting it. How she did that, gave him such good attention while rubbing against him, his briefs tightening._

_Her hands braced her weight, allowing her with the help of his own hold on her to control how hard, how soft, how long…and…he threw his head back…as she continued to ride him._

_She showed him her own pleasure on her face, the way her cheeks flushed and her eyes lit up and her mouth relaxed in between kissing him. And inside her body, she felt the sensation inside of her coil up so tightly, it felt taut inside of her as if all it would take would be one nudge…_

_To send her over the edge and maybe she'd take him with her as well._

_But for now, she just flirted with the edge, keeping on the stronger side while she felt him grip her hips harder…urgency showing on his face to match that in his hands. She loved riding him…like this because she felt so free, so alive and she could forget everything else._

_Even with several layers of clothing between them…it felt hot. But then suddenly it hit her what they were doing, what would happen next. The intensity of her feelings, and she felt she had to get away from him. _

_She pulled herself away from him and off of him…her body shaking. He read her face, seeing the arousal which matched his own but he saw resistance too and maybe a little fear._

_"You have to really want this C.J. before it goes any further…"_

_She shook her head. _

"_I can't…I know it started it and I'm sorry but I just can't…"_

"_Why not?"_

_Frustration laced his voice and she was the cause of it. _

_She sighed, as she nodded, flipping her loose hair behind her. Then she looked at him intently…trying to pick her way through a minefield around her and between them. And she didn't know if she had the skills because so much about him overwhelmed her not to mention her own feelings._

_She did know it wasn't just her that had wanted it…so did he…he wanted her too…she could see it in his eyes, feel it in his touch…not to mention…but no one of them had to remember first and stop the other from going too far. She saw puzzlement on his face as he looked at her. _

_"Okay C.J. what are we doing here then?"_

_She looked at him from where she sat, neither of them wearing much._

_"I thought we were kissing."_

_He sighed._

_"We were doing a hell of a lot more than that…"_

_"Houston…I know…it's just that…this is happening pretty fast…"_

_He read her face and saw that she had been struggling with something but she had felt so good on top of him and he'd seen the pleasure on his face that she received from him._

_"Do you want it to end here and to walk away?"_

_She tilted her face looking back and he knew she was thinking…then she shook her head._

_"No…I don't…I enjoyed myself too much…I want to take this further with you…it's just…life's so damn complicated. It'd be a mistake. A big one…for both of us."_

_"You mean if we had sex? C.J. we're both adults. I don't see…"_

_She interrupted him. _

"_No you don't Houston…but I do. I don't want to mess up the most important relationship in my life. You're grieving…we both are and this isn't the way to do it."_

_He sighed. _

"_I wasn't thinking about Will. I was thinking about you and how much I wanted you…"_

"_I know…but we can't do it. We just can't. It'd hurt too much and I don't know about you but I can't feel anything right now."_

_He paused. _

"_Yeah…me neither most of the time but when I'm with you…"_

_She nodded, grateful that he understood that part of it but that wasn't all of it._

_"And…we've been friends for a long time…and I like that about us a lot that we've always managed to share that…I don't want to mess that up."_

_"It doesn't have to…if we have sex."_

_She rubbed her lips together…wondering if she would agree with that…it just felt that if they gave into their feelings and it didn't work out…how would they feel about each other then…would they still be able to be friends?_

_Because if they couldn't…she didn't want to go any further and take that risk…because to lose him even as a friend would be too much. She didn't want to leave town with that between them. They'd be going their own separate soon enough. She back to law school and he starting his MBA program. _

_"What makes you so sure about that Houston…?"_

_He smiled at her._

_"I care about you C.J.…that's never going to change…it's because we've been friends for so long that it can be better between us."_

_She shook her head. _

"_I'm sorry Houston but I told you I can't…I think I should leave now."_

_She got out of bed and walked out the door while he watched before sinking back on the bed._

* * *

C.J. woke with a start and saw darkness around her. The faint hum of traffic outside her window. She realized she'd been dreaming about him again, about what'd happened years ago back in Texas after they buried Will. It'd been four days and no word from Matt…she knew that up to a point, no news was good news but she'd hoped to gotten some news about the fate of him and his team.

She got out of bed to go brew herself some chamomile tea to help her relax and fall asleep. She'd woken up as if she'd just left him in his bed, her body still felt the imprint of his hands on it and her mouth tasted him. She sighed as she filled the kettle and turned on one of the burners on the stove to heat it. Matt hadn't been too happy when she'd walked out of him that night and she didn't blame him. After all, she'd come on to him pretty fierce and then when it got hot and heavy she'd pulled away from him. If he felt like she rejected him…but it'd not been about him at all. She'd envied him his ability at times to separate their tight friendship from any desire to step their relationship up a notch. But then again he was a guy and that's what guys did.

If she hadn't stopped him, they'd have done it and she knew she'd regret it. Whether it made any sense to Matt or not.

The kettle whistled and she poured enough water in her mug to steep her tea. She sipped it thoughtfully while she tried not to think about all the things that could go wrong on Matt's mission to find his cousin.

She'd talked with Roy earlier that day and he'd said that a contact of his said that nothing had happened yet. The warlord's compound had been located but that Matt and the team were waiting to make their move. She'd told Roy what the mysterious caller she'd intercepted had told her and he'd pass the word along without hesitation.

"Did he say anything else to you," he'd asked her.

She shook her head.

"No he said nothing at all for a moment then he hung up…"

Roy was nervous, despite his calmness because Matt and Too Mean hadn't reported in not that it necessarily meant anything. They might be out in the remote desert where the warlord had allegedly set up his operation while paying off some corrupt governmental officials to look the other way.

"That's how it often happens in these countries."

She nodded.

Now she drank her tea which worked its magic on her muscles relaxing them. She'd been so tense, so on edge waiting to hear a word but she'd kept herself busy enough to not think about the men because to do that was to worry.

She remembered hugging Matt goodbye, holding onto him while burying her head in his chest. Inhaling his scent, tracing her hands against his back. They hadn't said much before parting but they hadn't needed words. After finishing her tea she put the mug down and walked back to her bedroom.

Time to sleep, she'd need to be rested and to be at full strength in the morning. She had a feeling that tomorrow she'd learn the fates of Matt and the other men.

* * *

Matt woke up before dawn looking up at the roof of the hut. Too Mean and Andy lay in their sleeping bags besides him, softly snoring. He'd been dreaming about a night he spent with a certain woman that had woken him up too soon. It'd seemed so real, he remembered the softness of her skin beneath his hands and the imprint of her mouth on his lips.

He sighed as he unzipped his bag and got up to face the morning. The day their ragtag army would meet up with some local militia men and free his cousin. The news that Will was indeed still alive exhilarated him. He'd been sobered up when Andy had reminded him that his cousin had been a POW for nearly 10 years and most likely wouldn't be the same as he'd been before his capture. He might have been hurt physically and any such scars would pale alongside his emotional ones, from likely being tortured and confined during his captivity.

Too Mean stirred and got up to join them as they both looked out of the window into the barren desert. They'd taken shelter on an abandoned farm, that'd never been resettled after the war.

"I'll get some of that instant coffee," Too Mean said, "it sure aint' cappuccino." The ex-football player turned bodyguard had a weakness for them.

Matt just stared ahead as the sun rose enough to soften the darkness.

"You nervous?"

Matt shook his head.

"Nah, we ran the plan over and over last night," he said, "put in every safeguard. Today's the day he'll be coming home a free man."

"If everything goes according to plan…but Houston he's going to be changed and we won't know how much even when we get him back."

Matt sighed.

"I know…but I just want him back," he said, "I almost gave Uncle Roy the news but I decided to wait until we're finished and heading back to Kuwait."

"Yeah I think that's best. Well better get Andy up so we can have some breakfast and get a move on."

Matt nodded, still running over the plan inside his head. Every contingency covered, everything ready to go. By tonight, he'd be reunited to a cousin he hadn't seen in years.

It didn't occur to him that he'd lose one of his team members along the way.

* * *

Roy had flown out to meet Matt and the others while C.J. manned the fort back home. She filed her briefs at the courthouse in the mornings and then tackled a pile of paperwork in the afternoons handed off to her by the secretaries.

She didn't mind so much. It kept her busy and besides with Too Mean in Iraq with Matt, she couldn't spar with him at the gym. She looked forward to making up for lost time when he returned.

Chris ducked her head in the office.

"I'm going to the coffee spot. You want anything?"

"A caramel latte will be fine."

Chris went out to fetch it and then the phone rang. She went to pick it up and heard static on the other end. Then she sat down knowing it'd come from the other side of the world.

"Houston is that you?"

"C.J…we found him and we got him out of there."

Elation filled her, and overwhelmed her. She didn't know what she had expected but the news that his cousin had survived all these years he'd been believed lost, just unbelievable.

"Oh my god Houston...you serious? Of course you are. So…how is he? When are you bringing him home?"

She heard another voice on the phone which she recognized even after nearly a decade.

"Hiya C.J. it's me Will…good to hear your voice."

She still couldn't believe it was really him.

"Great to hear yours again. God I don't know what to say…this is all so…"

"Unbelievable? Yeah when I saw that ugly mug of my cousin and his ragtag set show up, I thought I was hallucinating again."

She heard the weariness and so much more in his voice. Damn they needed to get him home safe again so they could all take care of him, make up for lost time. When she thought of what he must have gone through…she couldn't imagine and Matt…

"You coming back soon?"

Matt returned on the line again.

"Yeah we're heading back tomorrow. We'll be back by late afternoon at LAX on the jet."

"I'll be there and how's Roy?"

"Ecstatic…he's not let Will out of his sight since they reunited."

She felt happy about that.

"And Too Mean?"

A long pause, then she felt the apprehension build even before he spoke again.

"C.J. he didn't make it back. They killed him when we sprung Will…if it hadn't been for him…we'd all be dead."

She fell silent, shocked, her elation shoved away by intense sadness.

"Oh Houston…"

"Yeah…we're trying to get them to hand over his body for burial back in the States at least…"

"What can I do to help?"

He sighed.

"Contact Randy…and Caryn his fiancée…"

"Okay…I'll see you all tomorrow…have a safe flight."

They hung up and she collapsed in a chair wrapping her arms around herself, so overwhelmed with a flurry of emotions, not knowing just how it was possible to feel intense joy and deep sadness at the same time.

* * *

Will got settled in a room at the Veterans Hospital undergoing treatment for an assortment of medical ailments, none of them lethal. He'd already began regaining the weight he'd lost in captivity and filling out his skeletal frame.

Denise one of the top experts in traumatic counseling took on his case though Will insisted that he was doing just fine, he just wanted to return to his life and start gaining it back. Make up for lost time and live it to the fullest as it could be snatched away so easily after all.

Matt visited him a lot and in some ways, he seemed to be the same Will he remembered growing up…just trying to catch up with a world that'd changed so much without him. He'd been keen on learning how to use a cell phone and listening to music on an iPod. But Matt knew that Will brought back his demons with him to his own life, it'd only be a matter of time until they emerged.

As for himself, he'd tossed the hated sling off when he got back to the beach house. He'd just been dinged after all and as for the bruises, they'd heal.

Matt worked hard with Too Mean's friends to make sure his buddy got the sendoff he deserved, then they held a wake at his beach house right in the strip of sand in front of it. Barbecuing steaks and ice chests filed with beers. Kicking back and sharing old stories, memories the way his friend would have wanted it. Too Mean wouldn't want to be remembered through tears and sadness, but laughter and everyone having a grand time at a party.

Roy headed on home with Will who'd come along but though he ate and drank, he remained on the fringes of everyone still unsure of his place in his newly rediscovered world.

* * *

C.J. stayed after to help him clean after everyone else had cleared out. Damn she looked gorgeous without even trying in a summer dress which hugged her body and wearing her hair loose around her shoulders.

"I think he would have enjoyed it Houston…damn I'm going to miss him…"

He sighed.

"Me too…don't worry about the chairs. I'll sort them out in the morning…"

She didn't want to leave and he didn't seem to want her to head home. Something between them…since he'd come back home. Something had changed. Maybe it was his near brush with death, maybe losing Too Mean…maybe the fear of losing him for real this time. Maybe the reality that life remained fleeting and damn fickle in how it decided people's fates…

It's started when she'd hugged him in comfort, and he'd wrapped his own arms around her pulling her close to him inhaling her scent.

What happened soon after, neither could remember who made the first move…until they had their arms around each other, kissing softly at first and then more urgently. Their hands all over each other, tentatively at first and then in places it'd been years since either explored. He slid her summer dress up her thighs while kissing her so thoroughly she thought her knees would buckle.

"Houston…"

"Shhhh…don't interrupt me."

They kept at it, forgetting everything around them, forgetting the past few days, weeks, months hell even years. The only thing that mattered was right now and what they both wanted which was each other.

His hands moved lower and before she realized it, he slipped his hand into her panties and started stroking her there. She saw the expression on his face change when he realized how aroused she had become already.

Not to mention feeling him against her.

"Houston…oh god…"

So he stroked her there, caressing her and she gasped.

"Like that…I can see that you do…"

She couldn't even nod because she felt limp against him already as he rubbed her, sliding a finger inside of her marveling at her slickness, and how she clenched on his finger without realizing it.

Snug and tight and oh so hot…

He moved his finger inside of her focusing on an area that swelled beneath his touch.

"Oh…my …god…"

He smiled at her as he kept up the pressure and upped the tempo just slightly.

"You're so wet darling…and so hot…"

She felt like she was getting even hotter, a wave of warmth spread outward from his area of focus.

"What…?"

"Like that….how close are you?"

"Close…?"

"You know what I mean…"

Oh…pretty damn close, she tried to think but her mind swirled, caught up in the eddies of sensation that had enraptured her body. Her breathing came rapid as she leaned against him, her heart pounding, her skin perspiring as if she had worked out in the hot sun.

"So close…."

He increased his tempo and god, she couldn't help it but she threw her head back and cried, trying to suppress it and not succeeding.

"Let it out…there's no one but us here…"

She tried…but she couldn't…all she could do was sigh hard…her hips dying to meet the movement of his finger to push it deeper inside of her…as she rushed up to the top of the summit…nothing holding her back.

And…he kissed her on the mouth then as the pleasure grew beyond what she could stand until she leaned against him, her breath coming harshly.

.

She felt so limp against him, he felt solid against her like someone she could hold onto, yet she felt vulnerable as well. At what she had just showed him, what they had just shared.

"Houston…I…"

The woman who had been known for her way with words in any situation had been left speechless. He stroke several damp tendrils off of her face and kissed her again, tasting her as he pulled her closer to him. That primal feeling that filled him as that hit him aroused him even further…he wanted to carry her to the bedroom, push her against the bed and thrust hard inside her to take possession of her. More than he had ever remembered wanting anything.

But he knew looking at her, a mixture of sated passion on her face, and apprehension because she had felt him hard against her and knew what he wanted from her. After all, this wasn't exactly a road they had gone down before not except for some summer night long ago. He stroked her cheek gently, willing his own body to be patient.

"Come on…we need to move this to the bedroom…"

She nodded, knowing that too and so she relaxed against him when he swept her off her feet into her arms and proceeded to do just that.

Neither thinking of anything but what they both needed right now.


	37. Chapter 37

**C.J.'s meeting up in this chapter with some special folks from someplace else… actually two different other places…don't know if anyone's heard of them. Thanks for reading and the feedback!**

* * *

C.J. walked into the clinic to get the test results back from her doctor who happened to be Carol, one of her sorority sisters who still remained along the living. She'd been sitting on pins and needles since she surrendered the urine sample earlier in the day.

In between visits, she'd worked in the office getting some paperwork done before her flight up to San Francisco to take a deposition for a lawsuit filed against one of the subsidiaries of Houston Enterprises. Then it'd be off to Houston for a month filling in for one of the attorneys who'd just retired from the company. Matt and Roy were handling the caseload just fine here, in fact they had picked up a case involving yet another string of serial murders. This time a bunch of models from the fashion show circuit, wait a minute hadn't they handled a case like that before? At any rate, Hoyt and his team of detectives had been stumped so he'd asked Matt and Roy to step in and help them so they were busy at that.

They spent most of that time surrounded by frightened beauties with names like Brandy, Taffi and Sassy which both no doubt enjoyed. She didn't begrudge them that.

She waited in the exam room this time wearing her clothes and not the dreaded paper gown until Carol walked into the room greeting her.

"So when's your flight leaving?"

C.J. sighed.

"Two hours…I'm on my way there after I'm done here. So do you have news for me?"

Carol paused after sitting down.

"Test's negative. You're not pregnant. You do have an UTI but it looks mild…I'll give you a script for that."

C.J. just nodded absorbing it all before the relief hit her. She'd been so sure…

"You sure about that? I mean I took the test from the store. Two of them."

Carol shrugged.

"Sometimes they're not accurate," she said, "Like you said you got distracted by a phone call and then went back to check and the lines were faint. That can happen."

"Yeah I got a phone call I was expecting…later in the day."

Carol watched her friend carefully.

"So how do you feel about it?"

C.J. looked down at her hands.

"Do you want to know as my doctor or my friend?"

"Both or either. Is this a boyfriend?"

C.J. paused a moment then shook her head.

"Not really…It's Houston…"

Carol's eyes widened.

"Really…wow…I didn't know you two were an item."

C.J. shrugged.

"I wouldn't call us that. It was just one night…after Too Mean's funeral. One thing led to another…and in the morning…we…well he thought it was a mistake."

"You okay with that?"

C.J. smiled.

"I'm fine really. He's right. We should have never let ourselves get so carried away with it. It's been a little awkward but then we've both been so busy…"

"So you're not going to tell him about this visit are you?"

C.J. shook her head.

"It's not his concern, like you said the test is negative. That's the best outcome considering the circumstances."

* * *

Matt sat with Roy in a diner eating a greasy burger and fries in between interviewing suspects in the High Fashion Murders as they were called by the media. Good Morning L.A. had just interviewed them this morning at the hotel where some of the models were staying now under armed guard.

Crystal with her mic in hand and her camera man behind her had been doing the questioning.

"So Mr. Houston…how does this string of murders differ from the centerfold killings or the Las Vegas Show Girls Killings? You seem to become quite the expert in serial killers with a thing for the pretty ladies."

Matt wasn't sure how to answer such a loaded question and he wondered if his refusal to do the horizontal with Crystal after she came onto him at a charity event had anything to do with the edge in her voice. Roy just looked at him.

"I don't think any of these cases are the same except for the fact that the media seems to love a label and no, I'm not the expert on serial killers."

"But you apprehended the almighty Castanos didn't you?"

Matt sighed.

"Only because he came after me and my friends…and the police were the ones who rounded him up given that he was nearly indestructible."

Now later he and his uncle were kicking back before heading to find out whether or not their primary suspect in the crimes had alibis that were truly rock solid. At the very least, he seemed like a very disturbed individual.

"So C.J.'s heading up north today?"

Matt looked at his cola and nodded.

"You don't seem to have much to say to each other lately."

Matt bristled.

"We're both very busy. We've got the case and she's got the deposition up north to get done and then she's out to Houston for a while."

"I'll miss her. I can't help but feel sometimes that I'm doing what she used to do and that wasn't ever my intention Matlock."

"I know that. She knows that but as she told me more than once she's got the Harvard sheepskin so she's best qualified to handle the legal side of the company."

"That she is…but she's a damn fine investigator too," Roy said, "and I think she misses it."

Matt arched his brows.

"She tell you that?"

Roy sighed.

"No. But I've read her reports, seen her in action. She reminds me a lot of…"

He didn't finish his statement.

"What?"

Roy shook his head.

"Nothing…now who are we supposed to interview after we finish here?"

"Cricket Starr…"

Roy smiled.

"They all have such interesting name now," he said, "not like back in the day."

Matt finished the last of his burger.

"I'm not sure our guy's the killer," he said, "There's got to be something about this that we're missing."

Roy nodded.

"I'm sure there is…and I might have a theory."

"Like what?"

Roy paused.

"I'll tell you as soon as I check something out," he said, "It's a bit crazy but sometimes that's where the truth lies in cases like this one."

* * *

C.J. got off the plane and headed to pick up her luggage. She was going to meet up with two other woman, one a friend from college Lindsey Boxer, a sergeant on the police force in San Francisco and the other, Cindy Thomas a crime beat reporter with the local newspaper who was friends with Lindsey. They'd picked out a place where the two women hung out with two other friends, Sukie and Claire hung out but tonight it'd be just the three of them.

Lindsey of course asked about Matt when she'd called C.J. about the trip. No, Matt wouldn't be coming with her, he'd be staying in L.A. working on the High Fashion Murders case. Lindsey had been impressed to hear that he and his uncle would be helping the LAPD.

"We've been getting regular briefings on that case," she said, "They even flew up an investigator to ask us if we have any cases with similar MOs and signatures…but not much there."

C.J. remembered that Matt and Lindsey had hooked up to do some work together when tracking the trail of Jonathan Renfield as she'd been a friend of Buster Ryan but the real action between them had happened years earlier and hadn't lasted long. She couldn't wait to see them again and sure enough after she settled in her hotel room she went to the restaurant to find them waiting there with the first pitcher of margaritas and plenty of tacquitos.

"You have a good flight? You look kind of wrecked."

C.J. rolled her eyes at Lindsey.

"Well…thanks…no I had to go to the doctor. You remember Carol Lemaster?"

Lindsey nodded.

"College Homecoming Queen, yeah name rings a bell. Heard she's running a free clinic?"

"Yeah…she's never been happier."

Cindy frowned.

"You're not sick are you?"

C.J. poured her first glass from the pitcher.

"Oh no…well not really…I'm not pregnant at any rate."

Both women just stared at her and she wondered if she should have waited until the second pitcher hit the table.

"Shut up! Really?"

Lindsey shot Cindy a glance.

"I'm sure there must be a story somewhere but if you don't want to tell us…"

Cindy interjected.

"We'll get you wasted first."

C.J. had to smile at that.

"Yeah there's a guy involved…but it was only a short term thing," she said, "We're not together now."

Cindy digested that.

"Does he know?"

C.J. shook his head.

"He's real busy with work and finding his cousin alive after all these years…"

Lindsey sipped her drink.

"You mean Houston then? Oh my…I thought the two of you weren't going there."

C.J. looked at her glass.

"Yeah me too…but it just happened and…then it ended."

Cindy shook her head.

"Men are assholes."

C.J. jumped in. She might not have liked the way it went down but it hadn't changed the way she felt about her best friend.

"Oh no…he and I…it just wasn't meant to be and I understand that. We're still working together and best friends. That'll never change."

Cindy shrugged and picked up another tacquito.

"There's plenty in the sea after all," she said, "that's the good thing about them, high population numbers."

C.J. sipped her drink thinking about him and wondering what he was doing. Buried deeply in solving the latest string of serial killings of course.

Miles separated them and their lives did too.

* * *

Matt looked at the woman across from him. Kiki drank from her daiquiri glass and batted her eyelashes at him a lot. She was a tall woman with frosty blond hair and green eyes, who'd modeled from Paris to Milan to Tokyo and had just nearly missed becoming the latest victim of a faceless killer.

"Oh Matt I think you're so brave to try to help us all not get killed," she said, breathlessly, "but no one ever told me you're so great looking, so virile."

The last word curled off her tongue sensuously. She'd been trying to hit on him since they'd met at the Kon Tiki Night Club in Malibu.

"So you didn't see the face of the man who followed you and tried to ambush you in the hallway?"

She shook her head and sipped her drink again. He stuck to club soda and lime tonight, being on the job while Roy had taken Dixie out for dining and dancing. Will had gone out with a woman he'd met but hadn't had much to say about her but then both Matt and Roy knew he needed his space to rebuild his life.

She batted her eyelashes again and stirred her drink with her finger, before licking the droplets of liquor and swallowing them. Uh oh, full seduction mode here but Matt just wasn't interested.

"No…it was so dark and I was so very frightened," she said, "If you hadn't dashed to my rescue, I wouldn't be here alive today drinking this daiquiri with such a brave and very handsome man."

"Okay…so he followed you earlier?"

"Why yes…when I left the press session…by the way I read that article which called you the Sexiest Millionaire Alive and I heard you like fast cars, fast women and soaking in hot tubs in the buff."

He sipped his drink but nearly choked on it. He'd never live that article down. It wasn't even his fault, the secretarial pool at the office had sent in a photo of him of him after he'd been tossed by old Gut Buster as a joke.

"Well yes…but let's get back to the questions here okay?"

She nodded.

"Okay it's just that I'm still in shock and frightened and I think I need a strong man to just hold me you know…and tell me everything's going to be all right…"

Matt sighed, knowing it was going to be a long night.

* * *

C.J. tossed and turned, knowing she should have stopped after her fourth margarita but she hadn't. Cindy and Lindsey had plied her with more and thankfully she'd not driven her rental to the restaurant but took a cab instead.

The bed had been turned down and she just took her dress off and climbed into bed, feeling suddenly very tired. It didn't take her long to drift off to sleep.

_They stood together in the darkness, once he set her down on the floor inside his bedroom. His mouth found hers again, tantalizing her even as he tasted it. His hands sliding down her waist to her hips pulling her closer to him. She still felt the pleasure he'd given to her like a gift but…oh he needed to stop torturing her mouth right now. _

_But he didn't stop there, his lips traveled away from her lips, to the line of her jaw, to her neck, to that delicate spot between her neck and her shoulder. She wiggled when he did that, breathing hard. _

"_Houston…"_

"_What….?"_

_"I…I don't know…"_

_His words came unevenly. _

"_Yes you do…we both do….I want you so much…"_

"_Me too…but…"_

_His mouth captured hers again and she stopped talking as they began working on each other's clothes which landed on the floor around them forgotten. _

_Until only their underwear stood between them. He couldn't keep his hands off of her and that mouth…she mewed like a kitten when he trailed it along her skin, warm and wet. Once in a while a thought would strike her of the craziness of what they were doing. All kinds of boundaries pushed aside, unwritten rules broken. _

_Not that she cared right now; she felt a soft breeze coming from an open window somewhere caress her breasts and she felt chafed by her one item of clothing left. What she wanted was inside of her not just penetrating her body but her soul. That instinct within her overrode everything else, certainly logic. The instinct to mate…for the male of her species to dominate her and own her…she wanted that too and she wanted it to be him. _

_He stroked her face with the fingers of one hand purposely inching her closer to the bed and then he held onto her, sliding down to suckle her nipples one at a time…sliding his tongue over them before his lips trapped one nipple to suck on it…gently at first and then harder…until she moaned. His hair on his head, brushed against her body…and she wanted to run her hands through it and she wanted to push him lower until his face was level with where her body was cloaked with silk and lace._

_Matt's mouth remained focused on her nipples his hands riding down her bare back onto her lacy covered ass. She arched her back feeling suddenly weak and then he cupped her breasts and kissed her mouth again inching her closer to his bed. _

_Her mouth watered as her eyes took in the span of his chest, the hair sprinkled on it, the dusk colored nipples…and a scar laced in silver near his shoulder which reminded her Matt was a man who knew everything about danger. But then she had her own scars. _

_He wiped a tendril of hair out of her face, asking her one last time. _

"_C.J. are you sure?"_

_She nodded. _

"_Make love to me, I want this more than anything." she said, tugging him closer until the back of her legs brushed against the mattress. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him before they tumbled on the bed._

* * *

Matt woke with a start, his sheets wrapped around his waist. Drenched in sweat and his heart racing inside his chest. He looked beside him but realized he was alone. Not because he'd brought anyone home, he'd walked Kiki back out to her car after their interview but because the woman in his dream had seemed so damn real.

_The way she clung to his shoulders, her strong legs grabbing his waist as he rocked against her. She sighed as he nipped her shoulder. It'd taken years to build but only a spark to set them off but all the reasons why he shouldn't be doing this with her slipped away. _

"_Mmmm…kiss me cowboy…"_

_He did and it was like for that one moment in time everything fell into place._

He collapsed back on the bed, remembering that night which he'd just relived in Technicolor. His body ached with what it'd thought was so real and it throbbed where he could have sworn she'd touched it. No point in trying to sleep as his mind held onto the vestiges of that dream. He got out of bed only wearing his briefs and went to where his laptop hibernated.

Best get to work on solving this case if he couldn't get to any sleep. Anything to get his mind off the sizzling hot night he'd just relived. He'd had a lot of women during his life but nothing like that…and no one close to her. She's scared him spitless with what she gave him and what she demanded in return…when he woke up the following morning. Damn, he didn't know what to do. He was a love them and leave him guy and…he knew he wasn't close to settling him down. If the final months of his daddy's illness and his death hadn't been enough to do it…maybe he'd never be able to change his life and embraced what terrified him.

He'd loved and lost his fiancée and then there'd been Lisa and Andrea. They'd all died because of him and what he did for a living. The woman he most recently shared his bed with had been shot three times nearly dying twice. Her body bore scars like his did and he'd given each of hers plenty of attention the night they spent together.

So there couldn't be any other time no matter how much he wanted it. He'd rehearsed his words carefully before saying them. She'd taken a while to wake up, being so thoroughly exhausted…after all they hadn't gotten to sleep until just before dawn.

He'd hurt her he knew it but it couldn't be helped. Better for her to have hurt feelings for a while than to be dead forever.

She'd kept her distance since and he hated that but he'd hate burying her because of her closeness to him even more.

* * *

C.J. read about the arrest of the party responsible in the High Fashion Murders case and smiled to herself, knowing Matt and Roy had a lot to do with that. She sat in the Sky Lounge at San Francisco International preparing to board her flight back home to do her last packing before heading off to Houston for a month. The deposition had gone well but it looked like it hadn't scared the other side into a settlement conference at least not yet.

Then she looked up and her eyes narrowed. A woman dressed in jeans and a long sleeved shirt stood at the coffee bar filling up a mug. She had red curly hair she wore under a hat and damn if she didn't look so damn familiar to her.

She looked like…

"Rhonda…"

Imagine that, running into the woman who'd helped her so much when she'd needed it while amnesiac and forced into a prostitution ring back in Bannon County. Rhonda had been interrogated with the rest of them then faded into the woodwork before C.J. and Matt could thank her properly.

Now she stood in front of her. It just had to be her. C.J. put down the newspaper and went off to talk to her.

"Rhonda?"

The woman didn't turn around at first. So C.J. touched her shoulder. Rhonda turned around and looked at her, eyes widened in surprise.

"C.J….is that you?"

She smiled.

"Yes it is….god I never thought I'd see you again. I just wanted to thank you for everything."

Rhonda suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"Look it was nothing…and I don't think you should remember even seeing me here okay?"

Puzzlement filled C.J. at her friend's words.

"Why? What's going on here?"

Rhonda paused, taking a deep breath and releasing it.

"For one thing my name's not Rhonda…and I wasn't stranded in that town at Jake's bar. I was sent there on an assignment."

"What…what are you talking about?"

Rhonda brushed a strand of hair off of her face.

"My name's Katy Mahoney, I was a cop but I'm not anymore. I can't…tell you any more than that and I have to go now…it's been nice…"

C.J. watched Katy walk off, in total disbelief. What the hell had just happened?

She didn't know what but she knew she needed to find out.


	38. Chapter 38

C.J. saw the headlines while working on a contract for Murray in her office on the high rise at Houston Enterprises now Houston Foundation. She'd been there for two weeks, halfway through her month assignment and had been enjoying herself when not working hard at the office. It's not that contractual law was the most interesting branch but she'd enjoyed being back in the state that raised her.

She lived in the mansion that had been Matt's home growing up and hers pretty much too with her riding over every inch of acreage on the spread. Bo and Lamar still worked there after returning from L.A. preferring the quieter lifestyle to the flash and glamor not to mention exploding birthday gifts in L.A. At night, she came home and they all cooked up their dinner in the kitchen where Rosalina stood watch over them, ever protective of her domain.

More often than not it was chili Texas style…or in the mornings, omelets and fried potatoes. Julia Martin was staying at a nearby ranch with her parents as her husband was working on the East Coast for a spell. She looked frail and had her clothes hung on her but she had been her usual self. They'd spent hours together just talking about the directions their own lives had taken them often on the back veranda while drinking iced sweet tea and eating Rosalina's tamales.

Right now, she sat in the office scanning the _Houston Tribune _passing over the latest violence in Ireland linked to two brothers named Sheridan who had a sister who implored to the press that her brothers were innocent of all wrongdoing. More than likely, they were in the terrorism and violence up to their necks and little sister at home was the last to know about it. Families held secrets even from each other.

But her eyes widened when she saw the familiar photo of the notorious international hit man who'd sworn revenge against Matt last year. Of course Alan Garvey had long been exposed as Andre, who wasn't just a highly skilled marksman and trained assassin, he was crazy as a loon to boot. Fancying himself as some spiritual avenger on a mission.

Whatever. Anyway, the article stated that it'd been rumored he was in L.A. to do a hit on an unknown party but it had to be someone high profile because he only took the most profitable gigs. That struck her as odd because last time she heard, he'd been locked up in some maximum prison awaiting transfer to Super Max in Colorado. The article was sparse on facts, rich on speculation and she slapped the newspaper down in frustration.

So Andre had gotten greased out of prison because escape was unlikely and a quick search on the internet mentioned he'd been paroled a month earlier. A man like him could easily hide in a sprawling, densely populated city like Los Angeles.

Give that Matt was in L.A. right now working some cases, did that mean that Andre might take some time off his hit to go after him? She wouldn't put anything past the man with the powerful delusions.

She thought about calling him but figured he'd been warned enough already. He could take care of himself and with Roy helping him, he'd be able to stop Andre from coming at him.

Still she worried about him.

* * *

Matt looked stunned at the carcass hanging from his wall. Some kind of wolf or coyote, a calling card from only one man.

Andre.

Hoyt had alerted him to his parole a week ago, several weeks after the fact and he and Roy kept their eyes peeled for him. Andre had been told to report to his parole agent when released and serve a year in a halfway house in Bakersfield but of course that hadn't happened.

The man had just vanished into thin air. No doubt he'd had people help him do that because despite all the mumbo jumbo he spouted, he wasn't some type of spiritual shape shifter or being. Matt would prove that definitively once and for all if Andre thought of coming after him or any of his family or friends.

He thought of C.J. immediately and talked to Roy and Hoyt about it who arranged to have her under surveillance in Houston without telling her. They didn't want to worry her and if she knew, she'd come back to L.A. and be in the middle of whatever revenge plan Andre had in mind.

Now he knew that Andre was after him, with the wolf carcass, he'd given notice of his intentions, it'd only be a matter of time before he made good on his threats.

Not if Matt could help it, but first he called 911.

* * *

C.J. left the office to get into her car to head on back to the mansion. She noticed a dark sedan behind her but didn't pay it much mind. She'd been working hard for Murray on a last minute court briefing that had to be faxed to Dallas to be entered into federal court the following morning and she'd just made her deadline.

Now all she wanted to think about was sitting back watching the sunset on the veranda with Julie who was all excited about some news that she'd received on her research foundation she'd set up with her husband.

Cancer had robbed them of the chance to follow their first dream which had been to set up a law firm to help women who needed affordable legal counsel. Yet life was generous with second chances, and both of them had pursued other dreams and accomplished a great deal in their respective careers.

She frowned looking into her rearview mirror and saw the sedan still behind her even though she'd turned off the main thoroughfare heading towards a private drive that'd take her to the Houston ranch. But after she reached that point, the sedan drove past her and she saw the outline of a man sitting behind the wheel.

After shaking her head, she drove up to the ranch and parked her car. She got out and walked inside the house.

Rosalina shook her head.

"Bo and Lamar…they're messing with my kitchen again…but Julia's getting them into line."

C.J. went into the kitchen and smiled at her friend who was sitting on a stool and issuing directions to the two ranch hands from a cookbook. Julie smiled back at her.

"You're finally here," she said, "I brought plenty of those oatmeal cookies…for after dinner."

"That'll be great. Murray kept me so busy today. I hope he hires that new attorney soon and I was going to call Houston…but I haven't had the time."

"He's still overloaded with cases?"

C.J. nodded.

"They got a slew more just before I left due to all that publicity over the arrest of the High Fashion Murders killer."

"Good for him but what about you? When you're done out here, you planning on telling him how you feel about not working out in the field as much lately?"

C.J. hedged.

"I don't know. I mean he and Roy…they're a real team together and they're really making up for lost time."

"That's important for them to reconnect as family but what about you?"

C.J. brushed her off.

"Looks like Bo's finishing up with the chili…maybe we'd better get started…"

That got Julie off of her questioning but her friend wasn't anything if not persistent.

* * *

Matt rolled over in his bad while Carrie snuggled against him. They'd hit the sheets after coming home from eating dinner at the Pizza Kitchen. He'd met Dr. Carrie Russell when he'd ventured out to the L.A. Zoo after reading in the newspaper that a wolf had disappeared from the enclosure there and gone missing. It didn't take rocket science to deduce that the carcass that appeared inside his house as a threat was taken from the L.A. Zoo by Andre.

Carrie had helped him greatly in gathering information on the case and he'd been attracted to her good looks and quick intelligence.

Then Andre had sent him another threat claiming that he'd go after Matt's loved ones and that ticked Matt off greatly. He'd paced in front of Roy when getting that message and said he'd had enough of this lunatic hit man coming after him.

C.J. was safe at his daddy's house in Texas being closely watched by a cadre of armed men she knew nothing about and Roy and Will were protected as well. As for Carrie, he'd been even more drawn to the woman after realizing she might be a target as well and decided he had to protect her personally.

So they went out to dinner. They hit it off over barbecue chicken pizza and breadsticks and had a great time. Then they headed to his bachelor pad for a nightcap and one thing led to another…

The sexy had been lively and he'd enjoyed it. By the way she responded he knew she did as well…but afterward as she drifted to sleep next to him, he knew he hadn't just done it for pleasure, he'd done it to forget.

C.J. still kept her distance from him using geography to minimize her contact with him and he knew he'd hurt her feelings but damn it, if anything happened to her. If Andre knew how he felt about her, what they'd just shared together…then she'd be dead in his sights. Matt didn't want that, he didn't want to be afraid for her anymore because she hung around him and his dangerous lifestyle. Carrie…now Andre had threatened her as well and that just told him he made the right decision with C.J.

But damn it he missed her, he missed the way she made him feel. The sensations she elicited from him with her hands, her mouth…images flashed inside his head without prompting. Though mercifully not while he'd been doing the deed with Carrie. His slip up with Cynthia had been fresh on his mind.

He gazed down at the sleeping woman and got up to check his computer. His uncle had emailed him some schematics of a building that had been a location where Andre had hid out for a while before discovery. Matt had rousted him out of that hiding place and then nearly got arrested himself supposedly for violating the hitman's civil rights according to his lawyer. What a joke. But he knew that was a setup, all part of a master plan and he had to avoid being caught up in the middle of it, trapped so that he couldn't stop Andre.

God knew where he was right now, watching and waiting…he could be outside this house or down the street or across the city. Matt wouldn't rest easy until he was caught. Before anyone else was hurt or killed, no matter what it took.

The world would soon be freed of the delusional Andre.

* * *

C.J. sighed as she lay back on the chaise on the back veranda with Julie lying next to her on another one. The sky packed with stars, the tree branches rustling from a gentle breeze bringing the scent of Jasmine and yellow roses.

"Wow…you sure lead a life…"

C.J. sipped her beer.

"Yeah I sure do…but like I said, tested negative."

Julie sighed.

"Oh C.J. I always knew there was something between the two of you, something very special."

"No Julie it's not like that with us. The night we just spent together proved that. He doesn't want to go there again and I think he's right."

Julie paused.

"I think you should still tell him. I know you're not pregnant but I still think he needs to know."

"Why? There's no reason for him to know. No news to tell him. He's probably back in circulation anyway, you know how he is when it comes to women."

Julie smiled.

"I know how he is when it comes to you…and I think you're wrong if you think that night didn't mean anything to him."

"I'm sure it did…but well…it's just better to leave things the way they are," C.J. said, "Feelings don't change reality and it's so much less complicated. Besides I don't want to lose him. He's the closest thing to family I have left."

Julie sipped her drink.

"What if you had been pregnant?"

C.J. had thought about that a lot but the test being negative had filled her with relief more than anything. Not that she didn't want children…someday and not right now. Not with a man who didn't love her that way.

"I…we would have worked something out. I mean we're still friends first."

Julie shook her head.

"You know what your problem is C.J…as much as I love you? You never let any man get close to you…you're interested, you certainly attract them, you enjoy them and then when it starts to get serious, you practically run."

C.J. felt the prickle of irritation.

"I do not. That's so not true. I really loved Carl. How can you say I never really loved him? And look what happened? I said goodbye with him and the next thing I knew…he was dead."

"I'm sorry…I know how much you loved him…but just because something bad happened…"

C.J. put her beer down and got up and started pacing.

"Something bad always happens! I mean I loved my father so damn much. I was his little girl…and then we spent the most wonderful day together. I never wanted it to end, to go back home. He went to get something and…"

Julie nodded.

"I know and losing him like that so suddenly was damn hard but you can't let it run your life. You deserve so much more than that and I hate seeing you short changing yourself."

"I'm not…"

"Sit down C.J. and listen to me…"

C.J. sat down when Julie got that tone in her voice.

"I'm sitting…"

Julie softened her stance with a smile.

"You've got your one shot at life on this earth and you don't know for how long. Any moment it can be taken…I know how precious life can be and not to waste it by being afraid of things that can cripple you if you let them."

"I'm afraid of losing him. Houston…I don't know what I'd do if anything happens to him like Carl…like my father and he's come close so many times…including in Iraq."

"Yes he has but if you love him, you got to tell him and just let the chips fall where they will. Because I know you C.J. and you won't rest until you do."

C.J. thought about what her friend had told her even after she left for the evening.

* * *

Roy sat at his desk at home on the phone with the man who'd called him with information on Andre.

"So he's hitting some Middle Eastern leader after a peace talks session but he wound up here instead?"

A pause on the other end.

"He's been known to get distracted with personal vendettas. It wouldn't be the first time."

Roy sighed.

"Probably not. The man is certifiable. Fancies himself some sort of shape shifting wolf. I wasn't here when Matt ruined his plans to assassinate his target at the Miss World Pageant but he vowed he'd get his revenge and it only took him six months to get out."

"Judges can be bought Roy. Judge Granger is one of the rottenest apples in a very bad barrel. He doesn't sell his rulings cheap so someone had a lot of money to get this done and it's not Andre."

"Matt went to reason with him," Roy said, "and got an address out of him but that just got him into trouble with the cops. So you think that someone else got Andre out of that prison cell?"

"I'd bet on it and it has to be someone who wants your nephew dead or someone around him," the man said, "He must think Andre's the best delivery system for what he wants."

Roy felt a chill. He and Matt had just assumed that when Andre set his sights on Matt, it'd just been a case of simple revenge.

"I don't know who it could be…it'd be a long list to go through and eliminate possible suspects to get it shorter."

"You better get started. By the way you two are keeping everyone close to him safe aren't you?"

Roy sighed.

"We made sure everyone's protected. So far he's focused mainly on Matt."

"Make sure you do. I don't want to read about any tragedies in the paper, you get that? You know how serious I am and what I can do."

Roy knew fully well.

"You're putting yourself at risk."

"I don't care. No one messes with the people I care about…and that's not going to change."

Roy ended the phone call soon after not liking the sound of that at all.

* * *

Carrie cooked Matt some eggs before heading off to the zoo. Matt had been worried that something bad might happen to her but she insisted that she still had a job to do and the zoo had its own security. The security firm he owned had assigned a couple armed men to her as well, much to her annoyance.

"Matt, I'm perfectly fine," she said, "This Andre character is upset with you not me. He just needed one of our wolves which is why he hit the zoo. You're the one who needs to be careful here and not me."

He sighed, stabbing his eggs with a fork.

"Carrie, just do this for me. I'll feel a lot better knowing that you're safe okay?"

She kissed him on the mouth and went to get her things. She had an early meeting over the arrival of some more wolves later that week so she had to head on out.

"I'll see you later Matt."

"Later…"

He watched her walk out the door.

* * *

C.J. arrived at the office and a note was given to her by the secretary to work on some files that she kept locked in one of her desk drawers. She sat in her chair, unlocked it and before she opened it to get the files, she saw Murray stick his head in the door.

"C.J…I need to talk to you a minute…"

She sighed and got up to meet him in the conference room. She passed Barbara one of the paralegals who worked with her on the contracts. Barbara smiled at her.

"You got the contracts ready and signed?"

C.J. shook her head.

"No…got to see what Murray wants first."

Barbara shrugged.

"I can proof them for you if you want…save you some time."

C.J. liked the sound of that.

"Good idea…they're just in the drawer of my desk. Feel free to review them and get them back to me when you're done."

"Sure thing…"

The two women went their separate ways and C.J. walked in the conference room where Murray waited at the coffee machine.

She poured herself a mug, eying him. He looked tired, he must have been working late last night.

"Murray are you all right you look…"

Suddenly a loud deafening noise filled the building and it shook hard, causing the two of them to hit the floor as pieces of paneling fell around them hitting the tables.

After the dust settled, she heard footsteps run past her and smoke fill the hallway spilling into the conference room. She and Murray got up and raced to the door.

C.J. tried to look where the smoke came from and it appeared to be her own office. She ran towards it as Murray yelled at her to stop.

"Oh my god…Barbara…."


	39. Chapter 39

**Long one…but hope you like it! Thanks for reading!**

* * *

Matt jumped into his convertible and turned the engine over. He had to get to the zoo in time before…Andre enacted his threats against Carrie. He'd seen her leave his house that morning after spending the night with him with her assurances that she felt perfectly safe. Plenty of security surrounded her at the zoo and it was unlikely that Andre would return to the scene of one of his crimes to try to harm her. Matt didn't feel so sure but he'd let her go without him.

A decision he deeply regretted when he got the menacing phone call where Andre's voice cold as ice told him if he didn't show up at the zoo in an hour, his latest bedmate was going to die. After killing Matt, Andre would shape shift again as a wolf to travel to the next world his work on this one complete.

His car burnt rubber as it sped down Wilshire where he'd catch Western and then Los Feliz to head towards the zoo where he knew Andre would be waiting. He knew that Carrie wouldn't be harmed until he arrived there, she was merely bait to get him to step into Andre's latest trap. Damn the man for terrorizing the people he cared about to get at him.

He called Roy and told him where he was going. His uncle sighed.

"You know that's what he wants. He'll have you exactly where he wants you."

"I know but I can't let him kill Carrie just to get his revenge on me. I have to save her then figure out how to bring him down for good this time."

Roy paused.

"You call the police?"

Matt hesitated.

"No…not yet. Andre said he'd slit her throat if he saw any sign of cops. I'll have to handle this one on my own."

"We still don't know who hired him. Who's pulling his strings."

Exasperation filled his nephew's voice.

"Does it matter? If Carrie's caught in the middle of this I've got to save her…I'll figure out the rest later."

He clicked off his phone and concentrated on his driving. At least the traffic wasn't too bad right now and he made good time.

"_This is Dayna Wilcox with news of an explosion in Houston about an hour ago…not much information on which high rise it is or whether there are any casualties…I'm up here in Sky Nine and there's smoke billowing out of an office window though it appears to have been put out…"_

Matt caught the gist of it. An explosion in Houston? C.J. was in Houston…but then again it was the largest city in Houston with lots of tall buildings especially in the downtown area. Very unlikely that it had anything to do with her or Houston Enterprises.

"_The cause of the explosion is not known. The Houston Fire Department which is on scene has not ruled out a gas leak…though its arson investigators are combing through the rubble."_

Sounded serious but he had other things to focus on like Andre holding his girlfriend hostage and threatening to kill her to get to him.

He put the pedal down and turned onto Western, hoping he'd come up with a definitive plan of action before he got there.

* * *

C.J. sat outside the building as the paramedics patched up some minor cuts she had suffered during the explosion, mostly when she'd tried to locate Barbara inside her smoldering office which had pretty much been leveled by the blast.

Barbara didn't stand a chance and clearly had died instantly. C.J. had closed her eyes momentarily after failing to find a pulse. She'd just gotten to know the brand new paralegal hired by Murray and they'd worked together very well.

The firefighters had put out the remnants of the blaze and arson investigators were already sifting through the embers inside the blast area. Her office had likely been ground zero for whatever caused it be it gas leak, electrical or something more sinister.

Murray had safely evacuated everyone on that floor before the smoke threatened to incapacitate them and he'd been praised by the fire fighters for his calm demeanor and quick thinking. She'd made it down the fire escape after helping him and her eyes burned from the smoke, her throat felt like it'd been rubbed raw with sandpaper but otherwise she was fine.

Most everyone made it out safely…all but Barbara because she'd been closest to the source of the explosion which had been inside C.J.'s office.

But she hadn't noticed anything suspicious at all, not when she'd arrived that morning, nor when she left last night.

A man in plainclothes walked up to her.

"I'm Daniel Wilcox from the ATF," he said, "I've been assigned to investigate what happened in your building. I need you to answer some questions…"

She frowned.

"ATF? So I take it this isn't a gas leak?"

He shook his head.

"We've seen signs of explosive residue in your office," he said, "We'll test the whole building but I don't think we'll find it anywhere else."

"My office? Why would it be in there?"

He sighed.

"That's what we're trying to find out," he said, "Do you know anyone who'd want you dead?"

* * *

Carrie shivered underneath a blanket next to an ambulance while paramedics examined her. She'd not been injured but had been suspended on ropes tied around her wrists by Andre as part of his attempts to lure Matt to the zoo so he could terrorize him as part of his planned revenge.'

"I'm fine really…I just want to go home."

Matt stood next to her staying by her side.

"Just let them take a look at you okay?"

She nodded. Matt rubbed the back of his neck. Police had cordoned off the area where Andre had died. This time he wouldn't be coming back to hunt him down nursing an old grudge. He'd discovered that the assassin had put him under surveillance, the police finding photos of Matt that made it clear someone had been keeping a close eye on him. Even photos of when he and Carrie had been together…to say that creeped him out put it mildly. He didn't pass along that information to her not wanting to upset her.

"Oh Matt…I just had no idea that something this awful could happen. What's the world coming to?"

He didn't know how to answer that but he suspected that she wouldn't be so eager to go out with him again. She'd been his first girlfriend since…he felt it getting hot all of a sudden.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea for us to see each other anymore."

He'd already braced himself for that and slowly nodded. Perhaps that would be for the best. Not many women could handle what he did for a living. Sure his profession and some said his good looks attracted women to him in droves but once they saw close up the realities of what he did every day more often than not they'd opt out. Between the marathon surveillances to traveling out of town, and then there was the danger factor.

He sighed watching Carrie get up with her blanket around her shoulders and walk away from him, before heading to one of the police officers to get a cup of really bad coffee. Hoyt just looked at him shaking his head.

"You sure know how to attract them."

"What do you mean? Carrie just left me. Decided she'd had enough of my so-called exciting life."

Hoyt shook his head.

"No, the men that come after you. That Andre, he had to be the craziest. Thinking he was a shape shifter, imagine that."

"Yeah…well I'd better round up Roy and get back to the office," he said, "got a caseload waiting."

Hoyt frowned.

"Houston don't you think you'd better go home and get some rest? You've been through the ringer."

Matt shook his head.

"No…still too early and besides I still haven't answered the question of who really got him out of that prison sentence."

"Judge Granger did it for some master criminal," Hoyt said, "but Roy doesn't believe that. He thinks something else is going on but he won't explain it to me."

"Yeah…I'm getting that. It just looks all too convenient…"

Roy walked up to them a grave look on his face. Matt felt apprehension fill him when he saw him.

"Uncle Roy what is it?"

Roy sighed.

"I just got off the phone with Murray back in Houston. There was an explosion at your office headquarters earlier this morning."

Matt vaguely remembered hearing a news brief about it in the car. But he hadn't even thought…fear filled him as he considered what he'd just been told.

"Anybody hurt?"

Roy paused.

"A paralegal was killed…she was in the room where the blast originated, and a few minor injuries."

His next thought…he felt a cold sweat on the back of his neck.

"C.J.?"

"She's okay. Shaken up a bit. She helped Murray get everyone down the stairs and out of there. They're helping to get everything sorted out and meeting with the ATF."

"ATF? Then I take it this wasn't an accident."

Roy shook his head at both men.

"They think someone planted an explosive device in C.J.'s office. Judging by the damage, possibly her desk."

Matt's mind worked quickly.

"It has to be Andre…god, all this time I thought she'd be safe back in Texas and out of this mess in L.A…"

Roy glanced over at Hoyt.

"It might be him, might not be. It'll be a while before the police and ATF can pinpoint who did it."

Matt caught something in his uncle's voice.

"Who do you think did it?"

"Don't know…"

Matt knew what his next question would be.

"How fast can we get the Lear ready to fly out there?"

* * *

C.J. paced in the conference room as the two agents from the ATF watched her. They'd been questioning her about her activities that morning, the previous day…week and whether or not she'd noticed anything suspicious.

She sighed.

"I don't know…I think maybe someone in a car was tailing me last night when I went back to the ranch…but I'm not sure."

"You have any enemies out there who'd want to harm you?"

She laughed.

"A whole list of them…we keep it in Baby's memory bank…"

One agent frowned.

"Baby?"

"Yes…our super computer. Houston…Matt Houston and I use it to research our cases…and for other information in case someone decides to come after one of us."

"So people come after you and Mr. Houston, whose company owns the building?"

She nodded.

"Bad people who don't like being exposed as murderers, or other types of criminals," she said, "He just got his brother back who'd been held prisoner by a major crime lord in Iraq."

"How long ago was that?"

"Two months…but I don't think that he's involved. It's just that sometimes some powerful players are brought down…like the Triad in Chinatown."

One agent frowned.

"I think I read about that. Soo Chin. He didn't live long after that did he?"

C.J. just looked at him not sure what to say. Chin had been taken out by one of his own lieutenants and Carter…well he could have been killed by anyone, being a dirty DEA agent. But she didn't think the new guard of the Chinatown Triad was responsible for bombing her office in Houston.

The agent paused.

"Then you were caught up in a prostitution ring in Arizona?"

She sighed wondering how long it'd taken them to bring that up. She nodded.

"I wasn't 'right' at the time. I'd been in an accident and hit my head," she said, "You must know a crooked county sheriff and a member of State Parole were running that operation."

"Yes I do…and I also know that Semour Piser, the Parole guy wound up shot to death just outside his jail cell."

C.J. had heard about that too. No suspect had been arrested for the crime and the trail had gone cold shortly after.

"What are you getting at…Agent…?"

"Agent Trevor Green…Nothing Ms Parsons, just trying to clarify some information in your history. Robert Tyler…the man you were involved with who was charged with murder? Isn't he dead too?"

She nodded.

"Suicide, homicide they couldn't decide which. Another man from one of your cases who never made it to his day in court."

"What's this about?"

"Jesse Mercer…"

She frowned.

"He's not dead is he?"

Trevor sighed.

"No…got the crap beaten out of him when he was arrested but the police claimed it wasn't them. He's in protective lockup after someone sent him a threatening note."

C.J. hadn't heard about that but threats were common in places like jails and prisons. He shook his head and snapped a file shut.

"How often does this happen? That the 'bad men' on your cases just wind up dead?"

She heard a hint of accusation in his voice.

"You think that Houston…I had anything to do with this explosion in my office?"

He leaned forward.

"You weren't there when it happened."

She ran a hand through her hair, sitting down again.

"I was at a meeting in the conference room. Barbara…she…'

Her voice broke and she couldn't finish.

"A woman died while in your office, killed by an explosive device that someone put in your desk. Why would someone want to do that to someone like you Ms Parsons?"

She stared back at him, unflinching.

"I don't know. I told you it could be a long list of people upset with Houston…and me for a case we investigated that put them or a loved one in prison."

Trevor looked at the other agent and then back at her.

"Well those are the questions for now," he said, "We'll need to talk to you again so don't leave town."

Suddenly the door opened and a man walked inside. Trevor frowned.

"Who are you…how did you get in here?"

"I'm Matt Houston and this interview with my business partner is over."

* * *

She sighed as they sat back on the veranda at the ranch, drinking scotch and eating some of Rosalina's tamales. Roy had gone off to play some cards with Bo and Lamar leaving the two alone.

"They treated me like a suspect Houston," she said, "and someone tried to kill me…not that it's anything new but why now, why in Houston when it's easier in L.A.?"

He shrugged.

"I don't know…I thought it was Andre who's responsible but logistically it doesn't look like it. So that leaves someone else."

She chuckled.

"Like I told the cops, the suspect list of people out to get us isn't exactly short is it?"

"No…it's not…"

He didn't mind so much for himself but he hated that C.J. faced the same danger even though she did so willingly. She looked weary enough but still so beautiful dressed down in jeans or flannel. Of course she looked beautiful in a lot less or nothing at all. It'd be so easy to make a move on her right on the chaise. Slide his arms around her and pull her close to him…close enough to…but he remembered his promise and how he'd had to hurt her to keep her safe. Look what had just happened to Carrie and she'd only known him a short while, not most of his whole life.

Not like the woman next to him.

"It probably has nothing to do with me," she said, "Maybe they're trying to get back at you through your company. Maybe a recent dealing someone didn't like."

He looked at his glass.

"I don't like my people getting hurt or killed."

She nodded.

"Barbara was so sweet Houston. She just moved here not too long ago…she wanted to be a lawyer…that helped children."

Matt had made arrangements to fly her family out to Houston and to help them deal with the bureaucratic process and paperwork.

"Who would do such a thing Houston…of course the better question at this point might be who wouldn't?"

* * *

Roy sat back on his bed after beating Bo and Lamar at poker. He knew that his ex-partner Art wanted to talk to him after reading about Andre's death. So he returned that phone call before trying to get some shuteye after such a hectic day.

"You awfully busy…couldn't return my call?"

Art sounded awfully crotchety tonight…but maybe he was in one of his moods he'd been in since Catherine's murder years ago.

"Between Andre's last stand in L.A. and my nephew's office getting blown up…here in Houston, it's been very busy."

A low whistle.

"Who blew up your nephew's office? It wasn't Andre was it?"

"I doubt it. The police and ATF are taking some look at him but there was no calling card before or after so it's not like him. Andre likes to toy with his prey before going in for the kill."

"If not him then who Roy? Some rival company?"

Roy didn't think so. He didn't want to think about who could have done it especially since he doubted Matt was the real target. Something had been going down for a while mostly in the background where few noticed but now…it was closer to the forefront where few people would miss it after long.

"You think it has to do with _him_?"

"I don't know…but I'm beginning to wonder if someone knows he's still alive."

A snort of derision.

"If so, it's his own damn fault and you know it. The way he's been acting recently…"

Roy sighed.

"It doesn't matter. We have to protect him because if someone goes after him…more lives will be endangered….innocent lives along with those of us who aren't so innocent."

A long sigh.

"God Roy when I stepped down from this job and took my golden watch…people told me I'd never be out of the Company and I didn't believe them. I thought I could actually walk away and not look back."

Roy sighed.

"Life's just never that simple…is it?"

"No I guess not…so what are you going to do?"

Roy sipped his drink before answering.

"I don't know…"

* * *

C.J. took a walk before heading to bed, to calm her head. God, what a day it'd been between the explosion and fire, the interrogation by agents…and Matt flying in on the spot to try and rescue her. Not what she needed right now, what she needed he couldn't…or wouldn't give her. She'd walked away rather than accepted his offer to refill her glass. Enough drinking tonight, she needed to keep her wits about her.

The horses awaited her and she smiled at her favorite one, Bourbon who she'd been riding since she'd been here for exercise and to clear her head. The horse nudged her shoulder, nickering.

She didn't hear the footsteps at first.

"C.J…?"

She turned around and looked at Matt.

"You out taking a walk too?"

He put his hands in his pockets.

"I came looking for you," he said, "figured you'd be with the horses."

She smiled at him.

"Yeah…I just needed to unwind before I head to bed," she said, "Been one of those days Houston…"

She left the horse to join him in the center of the spacious barn they both knew so well. It hadn't changed much over the years, a paint job, couple patch up repairs from storm damage and dry rot and some new equipment.

"It's sure quiet in here," he said, "Nice and peaceful."

The way he looked at her now both excited and terrified her.

"That it is…always one of my favorite places to get away from everything."

He sighed.

"Even me?"

She didn't even know how to begin to respond to that.

"Houston…"

Then he took a step towards her and she would have backed up but her legs bumped against a hay bale. Nothing was more dangerous than him, no bigger hazard than a man you could fall in love with forgetting everything warning you against it.

A part of her knew that this was what she wanted more than anything. She wanted the man in front of her in so many different ways. It'd be so easy to take that step towards him. Kiss those lips of his that tempted her now but once that started…she stopped to take a shaky breath. Her body already knew he was there and waiting…for her to take that step.

But she felt uncertainty fill her and she found herself unable to look at him. Wait a minute, wasn't he the one who'd told her that what they shared had to end right there, the night at his beach house?

"C.J.…"

"What Houston?"

"Look at me…I want those eyes of yours on my face."

She sighed and lifted her face to look at him.

"Why does it matter," she said, "Nothing's ever going to change between us. Nothing will ever happen to get us what we both want."

He smiled.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that."

"Come again Houston?"

His smile widened.

"Careful you might jog my memory to what you look like when you…"

She put up her hand.

"Just shut up about that and go back into the house," she said, "and don't look at me that way."

A brow arched.

"Like what way?"

She didn't answer, sidestepping the bait tossed at her. Matt was smooth and he was a player and god forbid, he could seduce a nun on the eve of her final vows. He was good and most of the time he knew it.

But he couldn't seduce her.

"You know what I want C.J."

That smooth voice like silk sliding over her body again. Damn he was good and she still hadn't felt his hands on her yet.

Still she wasn't playing easy with him.

"No I don't. What do you want?"

His smile widened.

"For starters, I want to apologize to you for what I said that night," he said, "I know you hurt you and that was not my intention."

She sighed.

"I know…you just wanted to protect me…to do your best to encase me in bubble wrap and put me on a shelf somewhere while you and Roy face all the danger."

"Well…"

"Bullshit Houston, that's all it is. I'm calling you on your sexist protectionist patronizing bullshit. In case you forgotten, I'm well trained too and on a bad day, I can still outshoot you, outthink you and outrun you."

He couldn't deny that. Too Mean had worked her hard as had he and she had the skills to show for it.

"I know I've been unfair and no, I don't want you in bubble wrap on a shelf or in the office behind a desk…I want you working alongside me…like we used to do but I don't want you getting shot either."

She sighed after hearing angst laced in his voice.

"Houston it's part of the job. You think I like seeing you get shot? Damn at least I only get hit by one bullet at a time unlike some people…"

"True…but that happened only once."

She rubbed her lips together not looking at him.

"That was more than enough Houston…you know when your heart stopped beating on the table…someone called me and told me you died and I thought I'd die too…this big emptiness inside of me that'd nothing ever fill…"

A tear stung her eye and damn the man for having such an eye for detail he saw it and gently wiped it away with a finger, his hand settling on her face a moment longer than necessary.

Then his mouth replaced his fingers and he was kissing her face, his lips like soft petals caressing her skin at first. His hands settling on her hips, pulling her closer to him. She gasped as his mouth reached one of her ears and his teeth its lobe.

He released her and moved behind her where she could see him but she could definitely feel him behind her, against her. His hands started touching her gently like he'd started with his mouth and then ardor crept into his movements and she felt her body tingling in anticipation of each contact, each stroke of his fingers.

She tried to remember to breathe.

"Houston I really don't think…"

He whispered softly like a breeze with a hint of charge to it.

"Then don't…C.J…because I'm sure not…of reasons not to be here with you…like this…"

C.J. quivered beneath his hands, the way he described it…then she felt his mouth on the back of her neck, after her hair had been brushed aside by a hand. He kissed her softly, barely brushing her skin at first but that was enough to charge her body. Her muscles tensed and he must have felt it.

"Relax…C.J.…"

"I can't…I don't know why I'm doing this…"

"Yes you do," he cajoled, "You know exactly why you're doing this. We both know."

She tried to turn to face him but he quickly vetoed that.

"No…don't do that…"

"But I…"

"Be quiet now…"

His lips traveled across her neck, kissing it and every so often she'd feel the nip of his teeth and nearly jump. But she willed herself still, though he made it damn difficult.

"Look straight ahead C.J.…no matter what."

A trace of fear cut through the desire pooling between her legs and everywhere else.

"What…why?"

"Because I've got something for you I've wanted to for too long…and I need you to be still."

He nipped at her neck again, picking up a fold of her skin there and then releasing it again, teasing her. His hands began to move up to cup her breasts still sheathed by her bra under her shirt. She felt the hardness of his groin even with the two layers of fabric that separated them. Her nipples hardened beneath his palms and started to tingle. She arched her body against his hands unable to stop herself.

"Oh you want it don't you," he said, "how much do you want it C.J...?"

She could barely talk with what his hands did to her. He started rubbing the nipples of her breasts with his thumbs, the silky fabric rubbing against them. She tried to bite back her moan.

"No…I…I…well…but…"

"Don't deny it C.J.," he said, "I can feel how bad you want it beneath my hands and I dare say if I slipped one of my hands elsewhere I'd really feel it…and so would you."

She gulped knowing that if he slipped some fingers inside her panties, she'd feel how slick she was right now. Sliding one of his fingers inside of her would be like a knife slicing through butter. It was impossible to keep a secret from him.

She felt his fingers drift down to the snap on her jeans and then tugging them down over her hips where they'd pool on the floor at her feet. Leaving her just with her silken panties.

He moved away from her then and she heard the sound of his zipper releasing his pants and she knew he was removing his pants and then…

"What…?"

"Look ahead C.J.…"

He must be taking off his underwear by now and she knew the next time she felt him against her, it'd be bare skin and something else much harder.

His hands slid around her waist as he pulled her closer and this time she felt it, the hardness of him against her panties. She felt her mouth water as he started kissing the back of her neck again as his hands gripped her abdomen. She gasped as he nipped at the skin at her neck and then where it met one of her shoulders.

"You like…I hope…"

Her breath came out in gasps.

"I…do…but I thought you didn't…"

"Oh I do…right now…,"

He kissed her on that spot between her neck and her shoulder.

"Right here…"

God, she couldn't keep still when he did that to her and then images of what he'd said to her that morning flashed in front of her but she pushed them away. She knew he wanted her as much as she wanted…no needed him right now. She reminded herself of that as Matt continued to nurse the nape of her neck with his mouth and tongue. Her skin prickled and she felt goose pimples, when he reached one of her earlobes, drawing it into his mouth and sucking it.

Then she felt his hands move again and oh god, this time they were sliding down her abdomen lower to her panties. He didn't need to tell her he wanted them off of her. She whimpered anyway in anticipation.

"You ready for me," he said, "I guess I'm going to find out."

Oh he would know in seconds as his fingers reached to peel off her panties. They traveled down her legs leaving her exposed to him. The rosiness of that part of her and the wetness of how much she wanted this…and she braced herself for his touch. His fingers began caressing her there and she closed her eyes, sucked in her breath.

"Like that?"

She couldn't answer at least not with words.

"You'll like what's coming even more."

He moved closer then and used his leg to nudge her thighs open wider and she nearly fell accommodating him. He grabbed hold of her to steady her.

"Stay still…"

"I'm trying…," she said between gasps.

Then he thrust a finger inside her, which made her cry out like a kitten. Her muscles tightened around it, squeezing him. He used a thumb to stroke her clit, which made her squirm despite his instruction.

"Oh god…what are you doing?"

He whispered to her.

"I'm enjoying you," he said, "I want you nice and wet for what I'm going to do…just relax and let it happen."

"Okay…whatever…mmmm…"

His finger began thrusting slowly in and out of her as she squeezed him harder.

She gasped as his finger continued sliding in and out of her…the friction sending her spinning in ways beyond her control. Her legs buckled…but he didn't let her fall.

"You feel so nice, nice and snug," he said, "God I've wanted this…"

She heaved as he continued thrusting with his finger, the desire coiling inside of her body. Then he slipped another finger inside to join the first one, stretching her further. She found herself still spinning and she cried out.

"Oh mmm…..mmm…."

She thought she might come from his fingers alone but just when she got so close to the edge, he pulled them out of her, the slickness coating them. Damn him for stopping just when…she tried to breathe again.

"What…?"

"Not until I'm inside of you…"

She felt it jutting against her from behind. Hard, her body ached to feel it inside of it.

"Put your hands behind you on my hips…"

"What?"

She found her mind floating…nothing made sense right now except the sensations racking her body.

"Do it."

So she did and he slid one hand around her to cup one of her breasts rubbing the lace against the nipple. The other hand slid over her wetness, the dampness drenching it. Then she felt him push against her with his hard body but his fingers kept coaxing that part of her…making it ache…with what she wanted so badly.

Suddenly he bucked his hips and he thrust inside of her stretching her with his fullness. Her eyes widened and she groaned as its thickness …the burn threatened to consume her. He stopped when he'd heard her gasp.

"Did that hurt?"

She shook her head and said nothing.

"I don't want to hurt you…"

"You're not…you'll never hurt me."

He sighed and physically joined, in such an intimate way, he began moving slowly. She gripped his hips tightly.

She couldn't see him, but she could feel his chest against her back, hear his sighs with each thrust and in and the intensity of it.

"Oh god…I…"

He nipped at her neck then, with the next movement. She felt the fronts of her legs brush against the hay bale in front of her each time he pushed against her.

All kinds of sensations rushed down to where the tide threatening to overtake her. Her legs turning to rubber as he arched his back and kept thrusting, until…until she felt her climax rock her and her body melt into tears of flickering burn. She cried out, not being one of those quieter women as he rocked against her while she felt the waves of pleasure fill her and then the warmth of him coming inside her.

He collapsed against her, their sweat intermingling, their bodies stuck while he kept her pinned to the bale. Her eyes faced away from him still; she only felt the ebbing of her climax and the warm breath of him against her skin. Matt pulled her closer to him, still inside of her and his palms on her breasts still encased in lace.

Then she felt herself come back and she realized she was standing nearly naked inside a barn, in the most intimate of positions with her best friend. They extricated themselves from each other and she tried adjusting her pants while he just stood there not concerned about his own clothes.

What had she just done? Damn it was obvious what she'd done with him and she'd never forget it. But she wasn't the one with the problem here, it was him. She didn't want to bask in the afterglow of great lovemaking (which just might be great sex to him) and go through what she experienced the last time they'd tumbled into each other's arms.

The best defense was a better offense. That's what her daddy had taught her. That's what her legal mentors including F. Lee Bailey had taught her.

She tried to pull away from him but he held her in his grip.

He smiled at her.

"Oh C.J.…we've just gotten started."

"What do you mean…started? Isn't this the part where you walk away and say how we can never ever do the horizontal again?"

He waggled his eyes.

"Sometimes we do vertical…"

She rolled her eyes at him.

"You know damn well what I mean Mr. Love them and leave them."

He looked wounded. Really.

"It's not like that with you…

He sighed.

She put a hand on her hip…having failed with the pants.

"Oh really…Houston it really hurt me what you said," she said, "I don't buy the concern about me being safer without you. I think you're talking about yourself and it's got nothing to do with car chases and dodging bullets."

She thought he'd deny it but he looked at her and nodded.

"I know and I'm sorry…I had some things set me straight on that," he said, "that and the fact that all I could think about on the plane was making sure you were safe…and…"

She arched a brow, hand still on hip.

"And?"

"And…this right here…and how good it feels when we're together…"

She softened.

"It does feel good…but I can't do it Houston…not unless you're right there with me. All of you…and not with one foot waiting to make a getaway."

He shook his head.

"I can't…I've got all kinds of plans just for the rest of the night…"

"Oh you do?"

"When I said I wanted your body I meant it," he said, "It seems to me there's a cabin out behind the barn that would be perfect."

She remembered that cabin quite well.

"Houston…it's probably not been used in a while…"

"It'll be just fine," he said, "so what do you say that we head on over there for the rest of the night?"

She just looked at him.

"I…I…"

He tilted her face up and kissed her mouth slowly, purposely and she responded.

"All right…but if you pull that speech again I'll kick your ass."

She looked at him to soften her threat a little bit knowing what she had to do and that she'd do it as he released her enough so they could hitch their pants up and head off to the cabin where she knew he'd take her again and again to heights and she'd return the favor with everything she had inside her.

And just like that, the newest chapter of their life began.


	40. Chapter 40

_Matt __moved closer to kiss her mouth again, tasting it with his lips. She felt her body weaken, her legs she'd barely be able to stand._

_"Houston…"_

_"I want your clothes off C.J.…I want to see what you've got on underneath that dress…"_

_She just looked at him, hand on hip._

_"But you already know that…"_

_"I do…but I might need some reminding, not that looking at you isn't something a guy's going to quickly forget."_

"_Right answer Houston…"_

_She reached back, her fingers trembling to unzip it and damn if he didn't with his hands help her coax it down to the floor by her feet leaving her in her black lingerie. He sucked in his breath and then his hands reached to slip the straps of her bra off her shoulders._

_"Houston…"_

_"I want to taste them C.J.," he said, "I want to feel them hard against the roof of my mouth."_

_She felt her body squirm just from what he painted for her, she loved it when he talked like that. He finished with her bra, her breasts spilling out into his hands. He kissed her again harder on the mouth while he rubbed her nipples with his fingers, both at the same time. Damn he made her ache in other places when he did that! _

_They'd just been out to lunch in the downtown after he'd met with an insurance appraiser who inspected the damage to the office building. C.J. had helped some other employees pack up Barbara's items at her desk. Photos of her with a handsome man holding onto a puppy. Tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert for next month. A model of Barney the dinosaur. _

_A business card which she found on the floor near her desk, and a letter that looked to be mailed. She pocketed both, without thinking. It'd been sad to talk to her relatives who'd arrived the previous day. She hadn't known Barbara well but she seemed sweet and had been a hard worker. _

_After lunch, they'd headed back to the cabin not wanting anyone to see them together. Neither felt like answering any questions right now, they just wanted to be together. _

_Now she stood before him in her panties looking at him. _

"_Uh Houston, you need to start getting naked if I'm doing it or I'm leaving."_

_He raised his brows, his mouth quirked. _

"_Like that?'_

"_Uh huh…now start with the shirt."_

_He removed his shirt in one deft motion, letting it fall on the floor. Damn she liked looking at his chest…all those years she had to clean up scrapes and cuts on him and pretend not to notice how wonderfully sculpted he was, not to mention what his skin felt like while gliding her fingers over it. _

"_Come here…"_

_She stepped closer and he took her in his arms. She melted against him, how could she not? He kissed her on the mouth and she savored all of it, tasting him and feeling the sizzle all the way to her toes._

_Then that mouth lowered to her breasts and he did what she prayed he'd do and the electric jolts it sent through her threatened to drop her on the floor. He nursed one nipple at a time, slowly and leisurely rolling it over his tongue as she felt her hands clench into fists. She could barely stand and if he knew or cared he didn't show it. His focus was on suckling her breasts until his hands slid down her belly to her panties._

_Damn, because she knew by now they were soaked with her need for him and in a few seconds…he'd know…and then what would she do? His hand slid between her thighs, caressing the damp lace._

_"Oh C.J.…you ready for me?"_

_She nodded, silently. _

_She couldn't respond to that because he'd been kissing her breasts in between those heated words. What could she say that wouldn't let him now that's exactly what she wanted from him?_

_Damn him for doing this to her. Coaxing her out of her clothes so easily and getting her alone in this cabin where they'd been spending most of their days and nights. And now…oh god…the hems of her panties burned her thighs as he slid them down slowly …_

_"You're a very beautiful woman C.J.," he said, "I'm going to enjoy this and so are you."_

_Then he moved down her body until he had her where he wanted her at face level and she closed her eyes because she didn't think she could bear it if he tongued her there…and when it first touched her it was light like soft rain drops. His tongue brushed her so softly she thought she imagined it until…"_

* * *

The elevator door opened and C.J.'s eyes blinked open. Damn she must have fallen asleep on the lounge and her cheeks burned. She'd been dreaming about…oh never mind. She had to stop thinking about it or she'd never be able to do her job.

Today that was to sit with Matt in a meeting with their latest client, an ex-classmate from his high school days. Melanie Webster had blond curly hair and looked like she'd stepped off the cover of _Cosmo_. She wanted to roll her eyes when she started clinging to Matt during the initial interview two days earlier. That puzzled C.J. because as she could recall they hadn't been that close in high school. They'd both partied around on the weekends including after Matt's football games but not really with each other.

Clearly their client's memories were different.

"Oh Matt…remember when we were at Bixby's party," she said, "He used to throw the biggest soirees and then pay off the cops so they wouldn't close it down."

Matt glanced over at C.J. who just smiled at both of them.

"I do…now you think you need my help on this case?"

"Oh Matt you were the nicest, handsomest player on the team," she said, "When I was out there cheering for the players, I had my eye focused on you. You're just the best you know and I remembered you all these years…that's why I'm here to hire you."

He nodded a bit uncertainly. C.J. fought to maintain her composure.

"Well that and Christina…you know the fashion model? She said you and her were practically engaged once…she recommended that I come talk to you."

"Oh she did?"

"Yep…you seem to have a lot of friends out there. That's awesome…"

Matt coughed. Melanie was sure laying it on thick…had she really been this interested in him back in high school? He hadn't noticed, but then he'd had football, classes and his own set of friends. `

"Tell you what Melanie. Now that you're here why don't we get started? Tell us everything you know."

* * *

Roy watched as Matt put some more steaks on the barbecue outside the beach house. They'd been celebrating the fact that the latest case involving Melanie had been solved and she was happily united with a prize more worthy than him.

Not that she hadn't tried to rekindle the flames that had never existed. But he'd seen her off back to her old life minus the man who'd broken her heart.

Matt had invited Chris, Murray and a couple of friends including Hoyt who brought Anne and Kathy over to enjoy the quiet afternoon on the beach. He noticed that Kathy had come out of her shell and was gathering shells in buckets with Nathanial who'd arrived with his own mother.

The little boy had smiled when he saw him and C.J. together.

"Like the book?"

Matt paused.

"What book?"

"The one I left for you at the hospital…"

Matt remembered.

"Ah, To Kill a Mockingbird…haven't forgotten just haven't had much time to reread it."

C.J. brightened.

"That was my favorite book growing up," she said, "That's what made me decide to be a lawyer."

Nathanial looked distant.

"Atticus…"

She nodded.

"Yes…he's the father," she said, "He defended a man falsely accused of a crime and loses…but he gave it everything he had to at least to try free his client."

"He didn't die…"

C.J. furrowed her brow.

"No he didn't…but his client did."

Nathanial smiled at them and then went to go find his mother. C.J. and Matt just looked at each other. Nathanial's words often puzzled them seeing as if channeled from somewhere else like his visions.

* * *

She could only watch him as he started disrobing, revealing the body he hid beneath his clothes. Pulling his black shirt over his head to expose his muscular chest sprinkled with whorls of hair. Not an inch of spare flesh on it and his hair tousled as he looked down at her. She fidgeted on the bed as he reached to undo his pants sliding them over his thighs taking his briefs with them and her mouth went dry. She raised her head leaning on her elbows.

"You going to stand there all night or are you going to join me?"

He chuckled as he joined her on the bed lying sideways facing her, stroking her hair back.

"This is where I want to be. I've been thinking about this all day."

"Oh really? You had a pretty adventure packed day…but it turned out well in the end."

His fingers moved to her face, soft and sure.

"It's not over yet."

Her breath came more quickly, her skin tingled as she felt him so close to her but not nearly enough. His hands teasing her with how he touched her.

"I hope not…"

He draped a leg over hers and moved closer and she found it hard to breathe as he rolled her over gently and nudged her thighs apart with one of his own before positioning himself above her.

"Oh….my…."

The words that slipped out of her mouth when he joined the two of them together by moving his hips.

* * *

Roy read the briefing that had been attached to an email that came out of Interpol. Something about the Sheridan brothers in Ireland being linked to two more bombings, both taking place inside corporate office headquarters in Dublin and Glasgow.

No loss of life so far but injured people in both bombings. The IRA had been vague about whether or not it claimed responsibility and Roy wondered if the Sheridan brothers were some rogue element of that terrorist organization. He read the _London Globe_'s articles on both incidents and in both of them they interviewed the younger sister Elizabeth who worked as a clothes buyer for a big chain department store in London.

"My brothers are innocent," she said, "The police have not shown any evidence of any wrongdoing by either one of them let alone that they'd committed such acts of terrorism…"

The redheaded woman seemed so adamant and yet Roy knew that sometimes the family members of terrorists were the last to know…or were so steeped in denial that even a truckload of evidence wouldn't be enough to sway them.

He shut his computer down and readied for bed. He'd worked a full day helping his nephew apprehend the bad guy closing out yet another case, this one involving a school friend from his years in Texas. The barbecue had been fun and lively but Roy had been watching his nephew and the woman he spent most of the evening with, the one who remained after all the other guests had left.

Roy wasn't a fool. After all, it'd been that way for several weeks now since C.J. finished her stint working with Murray back in Houston. No, even before that something had changed, starting with the fact that he hardly saw them when they were staying at the Houston spread. The two of them would show up for some meals and C.J. would continue doing her legal work albeit in a borrowed office but the rest of time?

They were pretty much invisible. When they did surface once in a while, anyone could tell they were as they used to put it, seeing each other. Roy didn't mind not seeing them. He thought it was great that they both finally had gotten some sense in their heads and had taken that plunge.

Clearly they didn't want the whole world to know and he respected that. He wouldn't even bring it up. He would just watch it play out wishing his brother was here to see it.

* * *

C.J. snuggled against him. She loved that part of it and so did he, though it didn't take him long to drift off to sleep. She rested her head on his chest and he held onto her, both of them starting to relax after some strenuous exercise.

"It was a nice barbecue…good to see our friends…and Will."

Matt sighed.

"It's still so hard for him to be around people," he said, "He seemed very edgy if anyone besides me or you or his daddy got close to him."

"It's only natural Houston…after all he's been through. Ten years in a prison most of it in alone in cramped quarters. It's going to take him some time."

"He's got a good therapist…and he's doing some volunteer work at the VA Center."

"That's good…he's going to get through this Houston."

He sighed.

"I hope so. So what's got you thinking and don't tell me nothing because I know better."

She tensed a bit.

"Something that happened at the airport back in San Francisco."

"Last month?"

"Yeah…I ran into someone…remember Rhonda from Bannon County?"

"Sure do…she helped you when you lost your memory. I was going to thank her but them she was gone."

C.J. paused.

"I saw her at the airport."

"Okay…you saw her. Was she catching a flight?"

C.J. paused longer this time.

"Her name's not Rhonda…it's Katy Mahoney…she used to be a cop but she didn't say where."

Matt frowned.

"What was she doing in Bannon County?"

"Well she wasn't stranded there," C.J. said, "She said something about being on an assignment…but she didn't want to talk about it. In fact, she wanted to get out of there quickly."

"Maybe she's some kind of federal agent or operative. Someone in a high place might have gotten wind about what Butz and Piser were doing with the women in their custody. After all the feds shut the jail down a month after the arrests."

"I don't know what I would have done without her Houston but it's strange to find out the truth about her. So many times it seems like things aren't as they seem.

He stroked her hair with his fingers.

"No…they're not…"


	41. Chapter 41

It sounded like something out of the famed novel, The Most Deadly Game only some hysterical woman claimed that her story was true. Her husband, a professional baseball player had been found dead after he'd been plucked out of his life and gone missing.

Matt had taken the case to help his wife find out what happened but some of her theories sounded so outlandish. Even Roy had a hard time finding any Intel that would point to a sick and twisted madman who preyed on professional athletes as game to hunt. After all, been there done that by Richard Connell right?

The case had intrigued Matt and challenged him enough so he snapped it right off and soon after that was going to take off to hunt down the alleged game master. He packed up some things and called to get one of the Gulfstream jets prepared to fly off to the land mass picked up by Baby on a recon mapping search.

Roy sat with him and when Matt had announced his decision, he had stood up too.

"It's not smart going there without backup," he said, "I'll go with you…"

Matt considered that and nodded so Roy went home to pack for the trip. Later C.J. and Matt ate takeout Chinese on the deck overlooking the beach. He laid out the game plan and she offered some feedback on how to improve it, enjoying the give and take they had always shared when it came to handling investigations.

But C.J. worried about him. He'd dropped out of sight trying to hunt down a lead on the reclusive tycoon with a sadistic streak who ran an estate on a remote island. He'd slid his arms around her waist and kissed her goodbye a long time before he left her.

Then later Roy and Hoyt had joined Matt to take the flight which made her feel a little bit better. She looked at her watch. It was still early morning.

The work could wait on her desk. She felt hungry.

Maureen would be meeting her for lunch at Boss nova an Italian spot not too far away from the courthouse. C.J. had been thinking on her way there about her conversation with Matt about the mysterious Katy Mahoney.

She picked up a message that Chris had left on her desk from a Det. Stone and made a face. He'd been calling her all week from homicide to question her on the string of bad guys apprehended by Matt's investigative agency who'd wound up dead usually in prison cells. The list was growing longer but what did that have to do with them? Triad kingpins, crooked narcs and even a former state corrections board member turned pimp had ways of winding up six feet deep if they crossed the wrong person.

At least Robert appeared to have been a suicide so they didn't hassle her on that case. But she'd been avoiding Stone. Honestly, what did she have to tell him that would help him do what…prove that some sort of methodical killer was offing the villains in the cases that she and Matt and Uncle Roy had solved?

Only when she thought about it, it turned out that only a very select group of bad doers were being executed inside the prisons that held them.

It was mainly those who had physically harmed them. No not them.

Her. Two dead men after she'd been shot by the Triad in Chinatown. One deceased man after she'd been nearly forced into prostitution in Bannon County. The cult leader had been sent a threatening message and transferred to the isolation wing of another prison facility.

Even Robert…well he had just broken her heart. But that couldn't be related…no this all had to be a coincidence because it just sounded so crazy. Stone couldn't seriously buy into anything happening that had to do with her or Matt.

She left the office and went down the elevator to her car. Maureen had told her she had some news to tell her.

* * *

Matt leaned back on the seat of the Lear jet and closed his eyes, holding the slip of paper in his hand. He'd packed his bag so quickly back at the beach house that he'd dropped some papers into her satchel to take with him. Only when he rummaged for some Intel sheets that he and Roy had put together, he found a few other slips of paper.

Some receipts from the grocery store. A couple of photographs from C.J. with Maureen and Carol at a party…and one with her and Julia Martin. An elegant looking bookmark.

Then he found something else.

A yellow copy of a form from what looked like Carol's medical clinic with C.J.'s name on it. He scanned it and thought it was just information from a routine physical. Blood and urine work. Until…

His eyes narrowed and he read the part that grabbed his attention. The part about the hcg levels whatever they were and then realized what he was looking at before he read further.

A pregnancy test.

That sent a rush of all kinds of emotions through him so quickly. Not to mention questions. Was she…and then he saw no she wasn't pregnant. The test was dated about a month after he'd gotten back from finding Will and burying Too Mean.

What had been the most passionate night he'd spent with a woman since…the last time he'd been with her. Afterward, they had decided it was an experience that couldn't be repeated, he'd forgotten the reasons why.

He crushed it in his hand, not knowing what to think. She'd gone off and taken a pregnancy test after making love with him and didn't tell him. He ran a hand through his hair just trying to process it.

"What is it Matlock?"

He looked up and saw his uncle approach him with a bottle of juice he'd gotten from the galley.

"Nothing…"

His uncle sat beside him.

"Doesn't sound like nothing to me."

Matt sighed.

"Ever thought you knew what was going on with someone you knew so well and then found out otherwise?"

Roy studied him.

"It's happened…what's going on?"

"C.J. kept something from me Uncle Roy," he said, "Something real important."

Roy smiled at him.

"She must have her reasons. I'm sure whatever it was she didn't do it to hurt you."

Matt knew that too but that wasn't the issue here. It was the idea that she had gone through something like uncertainty about a pregnancy by herself without cluing him in on it.

"I thought we had a great relationship. We trusted each other…things had been going very well…"

Roy pursed his lips.

"I'm sure you're right Matt but even so, a woman might love a man and share most of herself with him but…that doesn't mean she might not keep something to herself."

"I don't know. This was pretty damn major."

Roy looked unruffled.

"Then you need to talk to her about it when we're done and back home again. Maybe she'll be ready for that conversation."

"I hope so…I can't think about it right now. I have to focus on our assignment and not get distracted."

Roy nodded.

"We all need to do that," he said, "I have a feeling we're dealing with one very deranged man here with enough wealth to be dangerous with it."

Matt couldn't argue with that. It'd all seemed farfetched at first but with more investigation, it seemed to be true. Someone really was luring top athletes to an island to hunt and kill them for sport.

It was up to him and his team to do whatever it took to stop him.

* * *

Maureen and C.J. kicked back some glasses of wine at the restaurant. Maureen's news was that she was going to get out of her gig in the stuffy corporate law firm and set up a legal clinic next to Carolyn's medical practice.

"Sounds great…I know you'll do well with it."

Maureen sighed.

"I'll need to recruit some lawyers…different specialties like family law, taxes…probate and all that…people who can volunteer their time and go pro bono."

C.J. sipped her wine.

"I can do that…I'd really enjoy it."

Maureen reached for a bread stick.

"Can you afford the time? I know Matt keeps you real busy."

C.J. nodded.

"Sure can…Roy does most of the field work with him. I've been doing mostly legal anyway the past several months."

"Then I'll be glad to have you hang a shingle at my clinic."

"Sure thing…maybe if you need someone who's done some criminal law…"

Maureen smiled.

"Definitely…you were Bailey's best clerk weren't you?"

"So he says…"

Maureen leaned forward.

"So how are you and Matt doing…"

C.J. looked at her glass.

"Great…he's out traveling into the field on a case with his uncle and Lt. Hoyt…"

Maureen reached for her own glass.

"While you watch the command center," she said, "C.J. I thought you were going to tell him you wanted more leg action on the investigations."

C.J. fidgeted with her bread stick.

"I was…but this came up so quickly," she said, "I've been busy on other things."

Her friend leaned closer.

"Has that Stone guy been pestering you again from PD?"

C.J. shrugged.

"I don't know if I'd call it that. He's been trying to get me to go in for an interview on some of the unsolved homicides connected with key players in our cases."

Maureen made a face.

"Who gives a crap if someone like Semour Piser gets it in jail? Probably had a lot of natural enemies being on the parole board. And those drug cartel members…well don't play with fire unless you want to get burned."

"I don't know what he's after…he seems to be fishing but Houston and I…we just went after these guys and got them. That's it…after that they were in police custody…out of our hands."

"True…but a couple of them were a bit the worse to wear for it weren't they?"

C.J. sighed, meaning Carter, Mercer and the Bannon County duo…but Matt had always been very protective of her…and she of him.

"Still there's really nothing linking them or their deaths all together except our agency and that's quite a bit of a stretch to me…"

* * *

Matt had landed on the island and he and the two others were holed up in a shack that had once been used to store artillery…maybe for smuggling as well. It was dilapidated and dingy but it them all comfortably with their gear.

They'd been planning on how to proceed to hunt down this eccentric billionaire. But his mind wandered to C.J. back home and that could be dangerous. He had to separate his personal life from business…or he'd put himself in danger of losing both.

Roy walked up to him.

"We'll be ready to head out to find him in the morning."

Matt gave him a pointed look.

"Unless he finds us first…"

Roy sat down next to him.

"If he catches you, you need to be prepared for next," he said, "for what he's got planned."

Matt folded up one of the maps of the islands that was over 40 years old but better than nothing. Though he still felt they were walking in there blindly.

"Oh I'll be prepared."

* * *

C.J. walked off the elevator and saw him standing next to Chris who just shrugged.

"Det. Stone…"

"Ms Parsons…you're a difficult woman to find…"

She put a hand on her hip.

"Not really…been out to lunch, doing errands. I have a firm to run while my partner's out in the field."

Stone who wasn't bad to look at if you liked scruffy looking men wearing faded jeans, tee-shirt and a gold loop in one of his ears. She'd thought he was homicide, apparently not.

"I work special investigations," he said, "in case you're wondering why I'm dressed this way."

"Okay…what does that have to do with me…or Houston?"

He sighed glancing around the office, obviously canvassing it for anything important to him.

"My partner Diego couldn't join me," he said, "It might not have anything to do with you or Mr. Houston…but we've got some unsolved homicides that are connected to the two of you and your firm."

She walked past him to pour herself a Scotch.

"I know…Houston and I apprehended them and then handed them off to the LAPD. They died while in jails, far removed from both of us."

He watched her sip the scotch.

"That might be true but anything you can tell us…"

She spun around after putting the glass down.

"What's the concern? So Soo Ching dies…that was bound to happen don't you think the moment he looked too weak and had to be taken out? Carter…well he's one of yours…or the feds and he corrupted his position and made a lot of enemies…"

"My concern is that I've got a growing number of unsolved cases piling on my desk in danger of going cold on me and…"

She finished.

"Don't tell me you're on the sergeant's list."

He just stared at her.

"Ms Parsons…this is what I do…investigate and solve homicides and I'm damn good at it. I will find out who killed them and I'm thinking that it's going to lead me right back here…to either you or your associate so you might want to start thinking about that."

He turned around and left the office, leaving her and Chris wondering what the hell was going on. The secretary sighed.

"What was that all about?"

C.J. paused, her mind still trying to wrap around it.

"I have no idea…"


End file.
